A Malfunction
by JKFallen
Summary: A malfunction in two time machines from different universes causes a ripple in the fabric of space and time, making the two fall into a new universe altogether. Future Trunks, allied with the Justice League, must put a stop to Cell before it's too late. Cell will stop at nothing to achieve his only goal, but a being he unintentionally brought forth could mean the end of them all.
1. A Distortion in Time

Chapter 1

 _A Distortion in Time_

There are trillions of timelines based what could have been. Something as small as stepping on a flower, for example, could cause the creation of other alternative timelines. The existence of said timelines are within a spectrum of each other, interactable with timelines only similar to their own through a device that could theoretically travel between them. Thus, in any given timeline, the ones they can interact with is finite, per se, the 'multiverse' would seem finite to a scholar or scientist. This could not be further from the truth.

There are many timelines, for instance, where Goku failed to transform into a Super Saiyan against Frieza. He destroyed the planet in a last ditch effort to kill Frieza but only succeeded in the death of himself. The Earthlings shared the same fate as well, as they too died at the hands of Lord Frieza and his henchmen when he made his inevitable roundabout to Earth in vengeance. Those like Piccolo, Gohan, Krillin, and Tien stayed to fight, even killed a few henchmen, but were easily cut down when the tyrant himself reared his ugly head. In the end, even Vegeta could not hide forever. He hid inside one of Frieza's many planets. Frieza personally sought him out and delivered the slow and painful death he had already rehearsed on Namek.

In other timelines, Goku saved his senzu beans instead of gifting it to a wounded Krillin and Gohan. Goku's thinking became a detriment as a more cautious Vegeta blasted the senzu beans into a crisp when Goku pulled it out after getting wounded. With Gohan and Krillin unable to assist Goku, Vegeta was eventually able to defeat the low-class Saiyan once he turned into a great ape. Yajirobe did not even show up. Vegeta finished him off and killed the other two as he retreated to one of Frieza's docking planets to recuperate. He returned days later return to Earth to cleanse it singlehandedly to make it fit for purchase.

Those were just a few of the timelines that exist. In some, Majin Buu absorbed everyone in the universe he deemed useful. In others, Vegito never defused. There are even a few in which the Arcosians used the Saiyans in a colossal war rather than exterminate them.

Timeline 11 shared an equally unique, and yet twisted fate.

"I'll...I'll kill you for this!" Trunks screamed whilst high in the air. "You hear me? I'll end you! You'll suffer for what you've done!"

Trunks, fueled by sheer anger and willpower transformed into a Super Saiyan, unbelievable even to the green creature he faced against with the beating he recently took. With his sword broken, he lunged at the thing with all the power he had left, punching him in the face. The beast collided and bore into his house, his body breaking apart the living room.

"SCREW YOU! BURNING ATTACK!"

Trunks fired a giant yellow blast that hurtled towards the creature. As the being enveloped inside the energy ball, it screamed, the sphere erupting in a massive explosion. The young lad didn't stop there though, he continued to fire more blasts until he had nothing left, creating an explosion so potent that even he was flung back.

Trunks could tell the blast obliterated the house even without being able to see through the dust cloud it created. Sweat rolled down his forehead. He slanted himself against the time machine as he panted. The time traveler had just returned from the time machine only a few minutes ago when he went to the past to give the antidote to Goku. He did not expect to be greeted already by this new challenge.

Trunks fell to the grass. Fear prevailed against anger. The creature's eerie vibe and slender, slimy figure terrified him. What frightened him even more was the fact that this is it. He cannot be resurrected back like the fighters of the past. And without Gohan alive, his death will mean the absolute end of the Saiyan race, as well as any defender of Earth. He can't let that happen.

Trunks's eyes shot up as the silhouette of the creature slowly appeared from within the smoke. Eventually, it escaped the smog and returned to their battleground, looking arguably better than before.

"But how? I put all my power into that. You shouldn't have been able to survive unscathed!" Trunks wheezed out as he tried to get back to his feet. He's lost so much stamina that even that is a challenge.

The bio-android raised his hand and pointed at the young Saiyan. A purple beam appeared from his slender finger.

 _This is it…_

"I can't just eliminate you like that, you're far too interesting." The creature began, ceasing his beam. Trunks breathed out the air he was holding.

Trunks recollected his courage. He could still feel his body tremble in fear, but at least he could fake like he wasn't. He had too, he was the only one left now. What kind of hero would he be if he looked weak to the enemy?

"So who are you? Why did you attack me and… mother…" He clenched his fists as tight as he could at the thought.

"Well then," It began. The fact that he knew his name made Trunks even more terrified. "I, am Cell, Dr. Gero's final creation. He comprised me of DNA extracted from every fighter Goku had ever fought or allied with in his lifetime. I was meant to save the Earth. I was going to rid the world of the androids. However…"

Cell's face slipped into bitterness and anger. Trunks winced at the thought of his intentions.

"However, you've destroyed them. My brethren. Am I correct?"

Trunks, at first, kept his mouth shut, both because he was too petrified to say anything, and because he didn't want to satisfy the monster by replying. It was only when the creature hit him in the stomach when he gasped out that yes Cell wanted to hear. Bulma created a self-destruct device for the androids weeks ago. With a smirk, Cell continued.

"Absorbing the androids wasn't my only task. In order to ensure my continued existence, I had to eliminate every individual who had supported my creation, including Doctor Bulma Briefs, who I would assume to be your mother."

Trunks, with what little power he had left inside of him, clenched his fists. He didn't care. Had he some strength left in him, he would have torn into Cell with all he had, even if it would kill him.

"You're a damn liar! My mother would never even consider creating a monster like you!"

Cell's eyes shot up at the information he received. The boy was never a priority target, per se, just an obstacle he could make into a meal before he could get into the time machine. He never knew for sure that the two were related, though the similar unique hair color made more sense.

"True," Cell shrugged "She never directly assisted in my development, though she did collaborate with Doctor Gero in the creation of some of my functionalities, like my tail and regeneration abilities. She had assumed that the project would benefit humanity in some, but the good doctor had other plans."

While Cell walked closer to him, there was nothing Trunks could have done except to accept his death. All that beating anger in him quickly left his body. In a response to keep him from impending danger, the Saiyan instincts of his heightened his senses and awareness to keep him going. But it was useless if he could barely get up from being so exhausted. It only resulted in things being even more vividly terrifying.

"My mother... what happened to her? Where is she… or… at least her body? Please?" Trunks meekly wept as the imperfect creature stalked ever so close to him like a predator closing in on his prey.

"Do you know what I find interesting about you, boy?"

Cell pierced Trunks's chest with his tail before he could react, condensing his innards into delectable bits to make it compact enough to smoothly glide through it. Trunks was helpless to stop the thing from literally eating him from the inside out.

"You're quite strong, and yet… I do not have any knowledge of you. Let's fix that."

Trunks's body through the absorption process began to narrow to the point when skin touched bone, his hair becoming brittle enough to fall with the slightest touch. His mind was an echo chamber of panic and the utterly terrifying feeling of the trepidation. Darkness surrounded his vision. The vast unknown scared him. Gohan taught him how to fight the androids but never told him about that feeling of inexplicable dread you would feel before you even fight them. No matter how strong he got over the years, that dark feeling always affected him, especially when Gohan was not around to help guide him through it.

He lasted as long as he could, but even Trunks dissipated into nothing, leaving his battle-damaged clothes and a broken sword as his only items to give to this world. Once absorbed, the power Cell gained from it exhilarated him, tinting his aura slightly more greyish.

"So," He thought aloud. "His name was Trunks..."

Cell threw the boy's Capsule Corp jacket to the side. He not only gained his strength, but his knowledge as well, which allowed him to envision the events of Trunks destroying the androids with a self-destruct as if it happened right before him.

"Interesting. No wonder he wasn't as strong as the androids."

Cell flew over to the time machine and forcefully opened its dome-like hatch, tightly fitting himself in. Remembering the date in which Trunks had used last, he typed in to go specifically 20 years in the past. The machine processed the information and closed the top entryway to prepare for launch, shuddering before it completely closed as if it knew that a vile creature was sitting inside of it. The machine flew him out of the ground and into the atmosphere for a final view of the planet, in which Cell entirely disregarded. The androids caused this planet to look such a ruin, not him.

The ship began to fade out of the timeline, a spectacle for everyone below to see. Little did those people know, however, that the last potential problem for a long time was about to make its one-way exit. Their future is safe, but the next one isn't.

* * *

 **Timeline 231**

"Ready to go mom?"

"Sure thing Trunks, soon as you help me put the boxes into the time machine, remember?"

"Oh, sorry!"

Being as strong as he was, the only difficulty was his balance as he held several cardboard boxes together. He carefully flew inside the open time machine and placed them down in the open space. His mother and the former head of Capsule Corp, Bulma, had done strenuous work building it over the of hassling to get the machine done as fast as possible, she took her time in programming it piece by piece. And while construction lasted a year longer than it should, it paid off with the finished machine being over twice the size of her original blueprints. It boasted even more advanced programming and competence than before. Hell, it even had cup holders.

"Careful!" She screeched, as one of the boxes Trunks was holding tumbled to the ground. Trunks flew down and frantically checked the box for any broken items. After finding nothing was destroyed, he gave her a thumbs up. She blew him a sigh of relief.

"Remind me again why we need all this?" Trunks questioned, loading the last few boxes into the time machine.

"It's all my tech, stuff the past me would kill to get her hands of. It also has the well as all the data I've collected on the androids so they know what they're getting into."

"And?" Trunks raised a questioning eyebrow. He knew all too well that his mother could go on and on without getting to the point, which was specifically the contents of the last box, one that had the Capsule Corp logo all over it unlike the bland rest.

Bulma passed over the final box, as Trunks swooped in and placed it into the time machine. At this point, the machine was cramped but could hold at least two passengers. Before she handed it to him, she took out a single item from the box, one that looked exactly like a scouter except for a more roundish shape and a Capsule Corp logo imprinted on the design. Trunks flew back down and surveyed the contraption from a distance, watching her mother put it in her left ear with a smirk on her face.

"During my leisure time, I was fixing up something called a scouter I had back when the Saiyans arrived many years ago. You remember them, right?"

"Kinda, it's been a while," He scratched his head.

"Alright, just to get you up to speed, scouters were a way for Frieza's soldiers to communicate, locate others and gauge enemies by their power level, a point assigned to individuals based on strength and skill. I think it would be more precautious of us to be able to communicate if the androids were to pounce us. two for us and the enough for rest of the gang when we get there."

"So these power levels... can it calculate mine?"

"I'm not sure actually," Bulma replied with a curious eye and a hand on her chin. "I've never tested the scouters myself. They can either accurately calculate it or blow up. Who knows."

"Oh."

Trunks flew from the time machine and lifted her mother onto the ship, saving the time and energy of getting a ladder instead.

Bulma checked the boxes behind them very quickly before punching in the destination for 20 years ago, around the time in which King Cold and Frieza will descend on Earth. The machine took a moment to process these coordinates like the waiter giving the order to the chef. Sounds of the hardware whining from the stress blasted across the small ship, annoying the two.

"That's not right..." Bulma mumbled. Although time traveling is no cake walk, she knew it would've certainly been easier and less stressful with all the upgrades she had done prior. Even the machine started to smell like burnt metal.

"The ship sounds it's having a malfunction."

"I'm sure it'll be alright," Trunks quipped, although even.

Her bickering soon ceased as the time machine lifted off the ground, its transparent hatch like dome closing in the mother and son. Once it reached its maximum height, they could see the whole known world from their vantage point. The Earth was still in shambles, but at least everyone's trying to get it back to the way things used to be. The machine did its final processing and it kicked its engines into high gear as it prepared for the hardest part of its programming. It flickered on and off like a lamp, fading in and out of their timeline for what seemed like forever before finally fading away.

As the time machine reappeared, the two opened their eyes to something they've never quite seen before.

"Look mom!"

Bulma was far too preoccupied trying to find possible errors that she didn't even notice where they were until Trunks brought it to her attention. When she looked up, she was utterly aghast at what she saw. Colors, many of which she had never even seen the likes of, spiraled around the ship like a vortex.

"It's..."

"Beautiful, right?" Trunks smiled, utterly hushed by the area's abstract beauty.

"Yes… but," Bulma's face slacked back from a smile to her usual inquisitiveness. "Not what I researched what would happen. The time machine should be instant, not a transporter to some limb- "

Both of them bore witness as the black hole suddenly appeared in the distance. The colors and light around them slowly started to spiral into this new hole rather than aimlessly like before. Even the time machine started to move in its direction.

They watched in helpless horror as the time machine was eventually enveloped into the black end of the vortex, a feat that took all the machine's computing power to maintain itself and not ripple apart.

"Remember Trunks, if we die and have our molecules are ripped apart atom by atom, it happened because of chance, not luck. Got it?"

"Uh... okay I guess..."

The vortex ultimately absorbed the ship like it was a sarlaac pit, leaving them in total darkness before one speck of light appeared on their horizon.

* * *

 **Timeline 809**

Central City was a place teeming with life, its vibrant atmosphere (both literally and psychologically) and long daylight times all year around made it a favorable spot for young adults to savor their best years, and for tourists who looked for something new and exciting in their lives. Even with their own gallery of super villains such as Gorilla Grodd and Captain Cold, the city had rarely seen a bad day. There was rarely a day where you do not just look at the sunset and smile because of the adventure you've had that day. And even when those dark days come, it is only the tourists who scream at the enemy, whereas the residents already know either Flash or Cyborg, the latter being the latest addition to the heroes, always had the situation under control. They were the ones to be as bold enough as to videotape an entire fight between their now comely forces of good and evil.

No one could have seen this day coming.

The machine in the suddenly appeared in the sky was a spectacle to the people of downtown Central City. Many tourists especially tried predicting where it would land and set up tripod cameras there, gathering as much video feed as possible in the hopes it would land them a viral hit. A great crowd already began to form by the time the contraption touched down in the middle of Central City's grand park, excluding the many who were already relaxing there.

"What is that thing?"

"Do you think there are aliens inside?"

"Can we just go back to playing catch?"

"This is boring!"

"We might as well give the Flash some room; he'll be here any second."

The chatter amongst the crowd ceased as soon as the glossy dome atop the machine slowly pulled open. Those who were suspicious of the green undertones within the dome were correct, the humanoid inside was exactly as they thought he was. Green, slender, and malicious. However, he was vastly different from any villain they have ever seen, and just the thought of not knowing this creature was enough to get both tourists and long-time residents frightened.

One of the older residents would murmur something about new villains never showing up in Central City, that it's too 'happy' for them.

The first shriek of terror erupted the park as the creature flew from the pod and touched the ground below. The outer crowd started to repel back those near the time machine as they pushed to get through. Perhaps it was out of pure crowd instinct, or perhaps it was a unanimous decision to use the inner crowd as a protective layer for what's about to come out.

As per usual, there was one noble hero in the trembling crowd, a young man with an ego bigger than the park itself. He wore no shirt to get the most out of this summer heat, attract some 'big game'. However, even he was cowering in fear of the unknown. His pride, however, shielded him from his mind that tried to rationalize his next move.

He took his first clumsy steps towards the still beast, as the women who had originally surrounded him disappeared into safety. Eventually, the creature and the man stood face to face as the crowd looked on.

"W-who... are you?" The man shakily asked, the sentence in his mind sounding far less pathetic than what came out.

The creature did not even bat an eye at the man. He instead scoped out the area, his beak forming a half-smile at the sizeable population that stared back at him.

"This will be a good start." He murmured.

"Uhm, for what?"

Generally, the time traveling alien would only plunge at the very most into a being's muscular veins and save them the needless suffering, but with the creature being as agitated as it was, his tail both jabbed and broke through the shocked man's ribs.

The monster absorbed the man whole while the crowd watched in horror. The only thing that remained of him were his clothes, which lied in tatters on the ground. That act was all that the people needed to run from the greatest terror they've ever seen in their lives. Parents nearly abandoned their children, being so caught up in the horror that they only thought of their survival. Many people at the beginning of the rush were either trampled to death by the unwavering mob or suffered the far worse fate at being at the mercy of the very thing they're running away from.

There was one person though who did not waver like the rest. He pushed against the crowd to reach the villain at the epicenter of the chaos, ditching his poorly worn hood overhead jacket. Had the fleeing mass of people paid attention to him, they would know who this man is.

The damage done to the park and people angered the young hero, who was now the only one alive in Cell's vicinity.

"So, it's you who's been causing all this trouble."

The creature turned to the distance to see a lone man covered in shining metal, his red, intimidating cybernetic eye fixated on him.

 _Unidentifiable? Is this a new villain?_

"Who are you? You're unheard of from anywhere."

"Ah... you're an interesting one." The creature said in a long drawl, smashing its tail into the concrete as it studied the newcomer with eyes slit like a lizard.

"My name is Cell, and if you could be so kind as to point me in the direction of Androids 17 and 18, I might spare your life unlike the rest. Besides, all those cybernetic parts of yours won't make you much use for me."

Cyborg sized up his opponent. The slender, insect-like look of the creature resembled more of a child's nightmare than that of a villain. He could take this one down.

"Well then, Cell," The man clenched his robotic fist so tightly that he feared the metal joints on them might break. "My name is Cyborg. And I'll tell you where they are as soon as I pound you into nothing!"

Cyborg leaped into the air as he gained velocity and oversized his fist, exponentially increasing the power of the punch that is going to go straight into the creature. If he had not caught Cell off guard, the villain would have certainly dodged the incoming attack, but instead, he paid the consequence of bearing a punch packed with over dozens of tons of force. He skidded on the floor, colliding with clothes behind him to make a small pile of apparels around once he stopped moving. This only enraged Cyborg even more.

Cyborg morphed his right hand into an energy cannon, pooling in as much energy as he could for maximum impact. With a grunt, he shot out a blast that resulted in the destruction of the entire park, and that was with condensing the explosion to as small of an impact as possible. Even so, he knew that it would have taken more than that to defeat the beast.

 _Do_ _ **not**_ _give that bastard a chance to get up! Hit him_ _again!_

Cyborg fired another blast in succession, slightly weaker than the first but almost as devastating. He could hear the creature shriek in agony. It was heaven.

 _Again!_

Cyborg's wires stretched out of his body to tap into a nearby power outlet from a grounded lamppost, as he took energy from the same electricity that powered most of the city.

 _He's still in that dust cloud, waiting to kill you and more people as soon as it clears! Again!_

Cyborg did as his heart told him and blasted Cell, the blast more potent than the last as he wired himself further into the lamppost.

 _AGAIN!_

Like a bolt of lightning, Flash entered the scene to watch an angry Cyborg charge another energy wave in his arm.

"Stop!" He wailed, as he held onto the barrel of Cyborg's cybernetic gun. "You're going to kill the man!"

"That's no damn man." He spat, shoving the Flash away with the cannon. "Matter a fact, I'm more human than that thing is."

"And so what if he isn't?"

"Look," Cyborg began, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his free arm. "That creature just killed dozens of people here, that's where all these clothes are from. Countless others are burning in buildings he directly started fires in. Our city is dying Flash! Why shouldn't he pay the price?"

It was then when the Flash took the time to truly notice his surroundings. He could hear the cries of the innocent in the distance, the slow, suffocating burn of the buildings around them, and the intense heat of the area to truly make Central City feel like hell. Flash walked up to a pile of clothes and picked up a day dress, presumably belonging to a young girl. He clenched it as if he was clenching onto dear life, and slowly placed it back on the ground.

"No matter how grim this looks, we aren't killers. I know I'm gonna sound like Batman here, but we're not stooping to his level. We'll fight him with the intent to subdue, not kill. Okay?"

The young man looked at Barry in disgust before reflecting upon his own anger at the moment. He tapped out of the power outlet and reshaped his cannon into his arm before taking deep breaths. The first few heaves were shaky and violent, but eventually, he eased down to a reasonable level, as did his mood.

"Alright alright… we'll do this the right way. I'm not sure how long aliens like him live, but I'll make sure he spends the rest of his life behind electric bars."

"Sure thing," The Flash smirked as Cell started his walk towards them. "We'll make it through this no sweat."

* * *

 **Author's Note** :

WOOT! This story hit a milestone of OVER 4.7 THOUSAND words! The epilog of the last story I made was 700 words less and was more of setting the plot for the next never-to-happen sequel than anything.

I added the ability for Cell to gain the knowledge of individuals he absorbed to make consuming certain people more of a necessity. It makes those 'who would never spill out information even to their dying breath' a nuisance, as well as make absorption overall more useful as you'll see a side of Cell progress as he absorbs more people.

Timeline 809 is based on a bunch of DC universes I have personally watched. Timeline 231 was loosely based off the universe of the Trunks that traveled to the main DBZ timeline with many tweaks. And Timeline 11 is based almost entirely off of the universe that Cell from DBZ originated from… with quite a few personal changes.

I don't know where the hell I'm going with this story, but support will lead me to the right direction. For I am a needy teenage boy with a _lot_ of summer time to burn.


	2. The Soul Collector

Chapter 2

 _The Soul Collector_

* * *

Far away from Earth or the solar system, far away from galaxies or the universe lied a being that existed beyond such frivolous matter filled constructs. Being far away from light, it's impossible for even himself to make out his physical features. But know this. He's laughing. Laughing so hard that if he had lungs he would've broken them.

He seized his laughter and watched what was happening below him.

 **"This is going to be interesting."**

* * *

 **Timeline 809**

When the matter realigned itself, it looked as if they had never left their universe. Fire stretched out and over the city like a blanket, covering Trunks's entire field of view. Even the water in the park nearby looked as if it were on fire. Those who were able to get out in the initial destruction fled as fast as possible. Even villains like Gorilla Grodd scoped out the fight in the park and foreboded the victor, leaving in the quickest fashion possible. Initially, the police physically intervened the battle with guns but quickly realized how ineffective they were and used all their power to coordinate a big leave out of the city. The people panicked anyway, leading to many deaths that weren't even directly caused by the bio-mechanical android.

Cyborg's energy cannon attack earlier had inundated the flow of the city's electricity and practically made the city's power unusable, even though he only tapped into half of it. The unstable power of the city led to hundreds of more deaths as the Justice League would be unable to receive communication from Central City, giving loads of time for Cell to absorb countless of individuals. Most fires in the city weren't even directly caused by Cell either, but an odd chain of events that started from a few blasts that Cyborg narrowly dodged, but landed into buildings instead. And without reliable firefighters to help, it ended up burning at least a quarter of the city by now.

"What happened…" Trunks said while looking at the destruction below him.

"I don't know. Maybe the androids arrived early?"

Trunks looked at the central park. There seemed to be two people fighting in a one-sided battle.

"Mom... do you think you can land the ship in the outskirts of the city?"

"But-"

"Just look outside mom. I don't want you to get hurt."

Bulma didn't even hesitate to move the machine, taking less than a minute to touch down upon a seemingly abandoned highway. It only stretched for so long, however, like a hundred feet away from them was nothing. A section of the road was blown apart by presumably the fallen skyscraper nearby. And to make matters worse, it won't take much longer before the flames reached that part of the city.

Trunks switched open the dome-like hatch and jumped off, leaving Bulma helpless inside the machine.

"Just stay here, okay? The ship has enough air to last you a long while, and it's much better than breathing the air out here."

Bulma looked at her boy with a strong heart.

"Trunks?"

"Yes?"

"I love you. Don't die on me, please."

Trunks gave her mother a smile to relieve her pain, as his white aura surrounded him before he took off. Unlike every other time he did that, she was uncertain about his safety. She didn't want to tell Trunks, but something about the place made her believe that this isn't the Earth they knew at all. In these dark times, she could only look up at the smoke-filled sky and talk to Vegeta for comfort.

* * *

An eruption not only interrupted Trunks's flying momentum but pounded his eardrums, being as big as it was loud. Fortunately for Trunks, it helped him get closer to finding out what's wrong. He flew at top speed to the location of the eruption, cutting between ruined buildings and flying through the burning flames. However, a falling building stopped his approach, causing him to fall into the streets with the weight of the broken building on his back. The mass on top of him was incinerated in the blink of an eye, as he blasted the building into nothing with a blue blast. He got back up, stretched his back out, and continued to fly to the set location. The only thing stopping him now is the odd fact that there are hundreds of clothes littering the streets, each one with a single hole somewhere throughout it. Had it not been for him inspecting this then he might have saved Cyborg's life.

"I'm not gonna lie to you Cyborg, that stunt you pulled back at the park hurt. Had your friend not restrained you then I might have had to retreat. But that's all in the past now, isn't it? You're the one in my clutches now."

Cell held Cyborg's neck by his tail, squeezing the life out of the man. The embarrassment of having so much trouble with a mere human was embarrassing enough for Cell, even if he was superhuman. It was even worse earlier, as an ally of his showed up and literally tag teamed him. Just the thought of being almost killed by humans was enough to drive him mad. The only thing worse in his book is being beaten to near death by an 11-year-old Super Saiyan child.

Cyborg's red costumed ally was lying a mile away in the pile of debris Cell thought he wouldn't come out of earlier. He was punched there minutes ago and had the building collapsed on him. It took him a while to regain consciousness, but it didn't take too long for the Flash to start throwing away the piles of brick and metal that fell on top of him. He could hear in the far distance the sound of Cyborg's wails.

 _Come on Cyborg... just hang on a bit longer!_

"But before you die, Cyborg, I want to show you something."

By the time Cell finally threw Cyborg out of his choke hold, he was already battered and defeated. He would've been dead if he had not used a lot of his energy to quickly augment his muscles with energy, to help withstand Cell's attacks. His metal body clanked onto the street, his cybernetic eye flashing all the warning signs possible. The abomination scoped the city again and chuckled at what a mess he made before closing in on the superhero. His tail was poised to strike him the very moment it gets in range.

"To my calculations, you're about 75% metal. That still leaves about 25% percent of you to drink. Not a lot, but definitely something I can take before I make my leave. Now... time to-" Cell drew his attention completely on the opposite direction of himself, as a being with strength far greater than the two he just fought was closing in on him.

"Hey, androids! Learn to pick on someone your own si-" Trunks stopped right where he was in the sky, looking at the unknown creature with confused eyes. The creature as well looked at him with a confused face, which locked for several seconds until Cyborg gave out a painful moan.

"Impossible... I thought I had absorbed you Trunks!"

"Absorbed me? I don't even _know_ you! And how do you know my name?"

Cell put his brain into work and accessed the millions of bits of information he collected through absorption. Cross-checking with both foreknowledge of people he absorbed in this universe and his own to determine why the hell Trunks is still alive. And due to such a mass of information, he collected he deduced this in the mere matter of seconds. The being slyly folded his arms and raised his tail once again to its striking position, all while staring down Trunks the entire time.

"Just give me a moment Trunks, you'll have your answer." The creature replied nonchalantly, before striking the tail into Cyborg.

It was quite a feat to not only strike the humanoid part of the young man with precision but to do it without even turning around. Nevertheless, he faded into nonexistence before Trunks could even react, leaving behind all his metal parts.

"No... you're far worse than the androids…" Trunks gasped out, mesmerized at the event. He watched as the creature's aura slightly changed to an even darker shade of gray.

The true change was Cell's intelligence. With Cyborg's extensive knowledge of the world, he was almost instantaneously able to confirm that this universe was indeed nothing like the world he expected to arrive to. There were hundreds, if not thousands of superheroes that are in league and even above Victor Stone, with around the same number of villains to match. Cell is hardly interested in such frivolous things, only taking a second of his thinking time to label them all nuisances to his sole goal. To make matters even worse, there's a great chance that they might not even exist in this universe, which enraged Cell to no end.

"No! I have to leave this universe!" Cell yelled out loud, completely disregarding Trunks as he flew down to the park.

Trunks, even more confused and angry than before, flew at break-necking speeds to close in on Cell, who had noticed his approach. Cell fired a few blasts at the boy to stop his approach but was easily dodged as he had little time to give accuracy to his shots. Each of them blew up a portion of the city, with one even managing to get close enough to Bulma's time machine and startle her.

Trunks inspected the creature and the outcome of the forthcoming battle. To be on the cautious side, he transformed into a Super Saiyan to stay afloat strength wise.

"So, judging by your hideous looks, you're certainly not some series regular to these people. Mind telling me why you're killing hundreds of innocent people before I kill you?"

"Oh come on! I know you know nothing about me but you're literally the tenth person that asked me a question today!" Cell procrastinated in a rant whilst stomping his feet on the ground.

When he saw how stern Trunks looked, he charged up his power just to show how frightening he could be. It was only a quick flare of his strength, one that shook the park for a moment. Even after Cell briefly powered up, Trunks continued to stare down the creature with a passive aggression. Instead, Cell decided of another method to provoke Trunks.

"Aaaah, that look again. You made the same one back in my universe when we fought. Now that Trunks is a part of me."

As much as Trunks looked at the abomination in seriousness, he was just as much terrified. Cell made it clear from the beginning that his purpose here was to wreak havoc.

"My name is Cell, and to be honest, I'm not about to explain myself to you. You're going to die in the next few minutes anyway. Just do what the last Trunks did and relax..."

"I may not know much about you Cell, but I know that a Trunks would ever back down from a fight!"

The teenager leaped at the creature and jabbed his fist into his stomach, causing Cell to spit out a slimy ball of saliva. He did it twice to ample to the effect, jumping to the creature's back to hitting him with his foot. Cell was smashed into the concrete flooring by it, skidding several yards away. The boy took no time to rest, instead flying towards Cell to give him a kick in the abdomen if he even has one.

"That's enough!" Cell hissed, grabbing the boy's incoming leg and slammed him into the ground. After he picked the Saiyan hybrid from his mini-crater, he threw him like disposable waste into a faraway building.

The building wasn't a building at all, more of less a large bundle of debris from what might have actually been a building of some sort. He wasn't alone, either. He was actually on top of another guy that wore red and gold, save for the piece of a brick wall that divided them.

"Kinda squishing me here..." The costumed man was able to gasp out before Trunks slid out.

The man had spent the last few minutes clawing his way out of the tons of debris that made up this building, deciding that his end must be far more dramatic than that. The two eventually met face to face once the brick wall was removed, confused by each other's presence.

"What are you doing here? You need to evacuate." The two said in unison, before the conversation became, even more, weirder.

"I'm guessing you're not just some ordinary civilian are you?" The Flash deduced, scratching the top of his head.

"And you?"

"Of course not! I'm the Flash!"

"Fools!"

Cell, who was now much closer to the building gathered enough concentrated energy to wipe out the entire planet if he wasn't concerned about his primary goal. Trunks may be able to survive the blast by a thin thread, but the Flash would be obliterated by it. They only had mere seconds left to say their prayers.

Luckily, the abomination wouldn't even have the chance to kill the two.

Similar to the way the flash entered the scene, a blue and red streaked blur flew straight into Cell and knocked the wind out of him, blowing the creature at least a mile away. And in that blue and red blur was a man that Trunks would find all too similar to a particular man in orange and blue gi clothing. To Flash, he was his buddy.

"You two okay?"

"We're fine. But how did you manage to come here? I thought Cyborg for sure screwed up the electricity in this city."

"The fact that there was no electronic communication from the city made me stop by here. Once I saw the fire I called for nearby cities to quell the flames and evacuate struggling citizens. I saw Cyborg battling Cell earlier, he might need help." Superman's attention was pointed to the teenage boy that stood across from Flash.

"Are you a civilian, son?" Superman pointed at the turquoise-haired boy, glancing towards Cell's direction to see if he might return.

"I'm not some ordinary boy, and that's certainly not an ordinary villain you guys are used to seeing. But first," The boy brushed the two aside and blasted at the direction of the park, the energy blast colliding with Cell's time machine and exploding it to bits.

"That was pretty impressive. But what was that for?" Superman questioned, pointing at the now dust cloud. That blast gave Trunks all the respect points he needed from the Flash.

"He was going to use it to travel to another universe, more than likely to cause even more destruction."

"Good thinking then," Superman replied, as he started once more in the direction Cell was blown back to.

"I'll tell you more about what happened when I'm done dealing with green bug over here."

"His name is Cell," Trunks snapped back, pointing his finger at the blue and red costume man.

"Right."

Superman flew away from the building and headed straight in Cell's direction. When he couldn't find a trace of him, he began to search around the vicinity. Cell was far too impatient at this point to let a plan like that sustain this long, so he flew down to confront Superman, having been high in the atmosphere where Superman couldn't previously see him. This plan of his failed miserably when he punched in the jaw by the Kryptonian that detected the monstrosity a nanosecond too early.

Cell flew from the force of the punch into a building that was mostly untouched by the fire and was slammed straight into its brick wall. Superman used this as a perfect opportunity to get retribution for what Cell has done, as he repetitively pounded the creature with his fists and feet. One punch eventually broke the wall itself and flew Cell inside what would appear to be an office building. While Cell was flying in, Superman beamed the foe with strong heat rays, easily making two holes in the monster's body.

Superman wasn't even close to being finished. He flew once more to the bio-android to continue where he left off, only to get a fist from Cell in response. The fist was grabbed by Superman and pulled aside as he kicked Cell through the remainder of the long building and had him burst through the other side, Superman following close in pursuit. Once in range, the superhero brought his two hands together and slammed his fists into the creature, causing a massive dust cloud and a broken street. He touched down and blew a mighty breath at the street below, evaporating the dust cloud in seconds to see his enemy clearly.

Superman stared down at abomination with an intensity that made Cell shudder. He didn't have a personal grudge with a villain he just met minutes ago, but what he's done to Central City is more than enough to play rough with him a little while. Cell took a page from Trunks and concealed his emotions. Unlike Trunks, though, Cell can become a cocky bastard at times.

"Lucky shot Superman. Yeah, I know your name. Cyborg told me all about it when I killed him!"

 **"You WHAT!"**

Before Superman could lay the beating of a lifetime, Cell sent a quick blast to Superman point-blank to his face, creating an explosion that was even bigger than what Superman pulled off earlier. The biomechanical android flew himself out of the resulting dust cloud and coughed a bit from it, still keeping his cocky smile the entire time.

"What a fool. All that strength yet was beaten by a mere blast. I can only hope this blast didn't kill him so I can absorb him. It's the least this universe can do for not having the androids." Cell cooed, before adjusting himself to a sumo wrestling like stance. He had the perfect idea to end off such a battle like this.

"Ka...me..." The creature cupped his hands while rocks from the destroyed street started to rise up in reaction. The Earth itself felt like it was trembling in reaction.

"ha...me..." Cell's hands began to emit a ball of blue radiant light. After a few seconds, this ball of energy became so large that Cell had to condense it. The ball of energy excitedly bounced with electricity. It was ready.

"Ha!"

Had the blast actually impacted Superman, it just might've rendered him unconscious or even worse. Superman's fast reaction to the attack allowed him to make a counterstrike. Superman fired a massively concentrated heat ray, evaporating the dust cloud around him almost instantaneously. The blue and red energies clashed, creating a struggle. The clash was so powerful that it formed an increasingly expanding sphere at the center. The two kept applying energy to their blasts as the street gave way to the ball of energy to expand. Eventually, the sphere became so too dense that it collapsed on itself and imploded. The two were thrown back as the power of the explosion brought the whole city to its knees. Flash and Trunks (the latter flying them to Bulma's time machine) were also blown back by the power, with the two falling down to the streets. Even Bulma, who was on the very outskirts of the city was momentarily blinded by the light, having felt earlier the tremors of both Cell charging up and the energy struggle.

Eventually, the light dimmed, and the dust cloud settled to reveal the two on opposite ends of the burning city block. Superman has seen both better and worse days, his suit torn up in specific places, with one being a diagonal cut on his S symbol. But Cell hasn't been this worse before, with so many cuts and bruises over his body that normal man would've fallen onto the floor dead. But he persisted on continuing the battle, even wiping out the purple blood hanging out of his orifice-like mouth. By the time he got up, Superman was already battle ready, even pacing a bit on the ground.

"Don't act that that didn't hurt!" Cell yelled, watching Superman not even acknowledge the blood hanging down on his own bottom lip.

There was a rational side to Cell that begged him to retreat from this one-sided battle. His cockiness and pride that he took from Vegeta made him stay and fight. Foolish, yes, but worth it in his eyes. He flew at the superhero beyond break-necking speeds, giving his left arm a boost of strength via amplifying it with ki, as threw it at Superman. The fist was yet again grabbed, creating an airwave around the two that lasted for a few seconds. He zipped around the creature's back and grabbed a hold of his tail, dragging it around in a circle. He quickly became so fast that the two became a blue and green blur before Superman threw the thing into the wall of a building.

The bio-android crumbled part of its foundation and fell on his back, completely breaking off that section of the wall. Superman stalked over the monstrosity with his eyes beginning to emit a red light. He clenched his fists as tight as possible as he prepared to do something he himself isn't ready to do.

Thoughts opened on his mind.

 _Should I really do this? There really isn't any point to it anyway…_

"Superman!" Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter floated nearby the man of steel before descending onto the ground and walking towards his location.

"Don't do something you'll regret. It may seem like the best option to kill him now, but that could bring further negative implications that we don't know anything about." Wonder Woman explained.

"Wait, how do you guys know about him?"

"Flash told us all about him." Green Lantern replied, flying towards them with the Flash and Bulma in one of his green bubble constructs, and Trunks right next to him. He continued to float in the air while Trunks flew down next to the group.

"What's the problem with killing him? He's can't be contained, and he'll stop at nothing to wreak havoc. Besides, he's just a thing, not some being." Trunks well explained, causing Superman to look back at Cell with anger.

"Well excuse me, traveler, you don't have the authority to make such life-changing decisions. Go home," Wonder Woman snapped back.

"Life-changing? Who do you think you are? The only life-changing thing I'm doing is saving millions of lives! He will stop at nothing to kill and kill some more just to increase his power! And if the scenario in my head plays out then eventually even all of us combined won't compare to his strength! If Superman won't kill him, then I will!"

"Is this conversation really necessary right now?" Martian Manhunter chimed in.

"Yes!" Wonder Woman and Trunks said in union.

"Guys," Green Lantern began, as everyone turned to the sky to see him. "This is like the _worst_ possible time to be having this conversation. With everyone preoccupied with this argument, he could flee at any moment!"

"Y'know, there's no point in killing such scum," Superman said while cracking his knuckles.

"He can rot in a jail cell for all I- "

Cell flew into the sky like a jet engine, aligning himself with the still setting sun.

"Solar flare!"

Cell emitted a blinding light throughout the entire city, as they were all unable to stop Cell from escaping the destroyed city for good. Superman, however, was only momentarily blinded, but by the time he could open his eyes Cell was long gone.

"Dammit!" Superman screeched, pounding his arms into the sidewalk. The man was even ready to shed a tear for Cyborg before a gentle hand was placed on his shoulder.

"The time for mourning the fallen will come as soon as we defeat Cell."

Wonder Woman turned from Superman to address the crowd of distressed heroes.

"We'll have time to prepare ourselves for him, as he'll most likely lie low for a long time with all the injuries he sustained. In the meanwhile, we'll be learning everything about him so that he won't even stand a chance."

"Let's all head to the watchtower. Batman's definitely going to want to hear about this."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

I was working on this for literally 2 days straight anyway to get you guys a story as fast as possible. But don't expect all stories to be delivered this quickly! Well... maybe the next one depending on my almost empty schedule for the month.

Thanks for reading and remember to send criticism down my way! The more the merrier!


	3. Adapt or Expire

Chapter 3

 _Adapt or Expire_

 ** _The morning after_**

Although Cell may be one of the greatest beings created, he is far from the perfection that he desires. Most of his cells are still at a "sleeping" state, meaning they can't be fully utilized until he achieves perfection. Upon perfection, all cells were to be activated, including those he didn't even know existed. Many of the cells inside of him are at a young state as well, meaning that many of his abilities aren't fully fledged either. Even his regenerative cells aren't as powerful, but after that beating he took recently he really needs them to be. Fortunately for Cell, there are ways to speed up his regeneration process.

Cell stood atop of a small mountain range that was adjacent to the main road. Out here in the rural areas, those that stop around are usually cargo trucks needing to fill up on gas for the long trip ahead, and travelers who stop by for a cup of coffee to relax. There aren't a lot of traffic along these areas, but the vehicles that come along are bound to stop by the gas station, mainly because it's impossible to tell if there's gonna any other station in the next tens of miles (another strategic emplacement by none other than 7/11. Corporate bastards). And in an odd sense, Cell's reasons for coming here are similar to a passerby. To regain strength.

One heavily armored truck in particular roused Cell's interests. Whatever's inside it must be valuable; not that it really matters to him. Still, it's a good time as any to gather the first morsels to hasten his regeneration process.

The truck driver that was road blocked by Cell wasn't all too keen in trying to fight a super villain. Unlike any other truck driver that passes over here, they were prepared for situations like these. By the confidently done signal from the truck driver's hand, half a dozen armored men came out of the back of the equally armored black truck, tuning their assault rifles to aim at the unidentified creature. Their orders to shoot were not authorized yet by Captain Oswald, who was given the specific task of protecting and managing not only this truck but the two that are a few miles behind them. Each of his five men positioned themselves in a firing line. He pushed them aside to see their obstacle, a slender, greenish guy that for the most part looked like he lacked interest at the situation, even with several guns pointing right at his head. This alarmed the Captain, as only the insane or insanely strong look like that when a gun is pointed at them.

"If you haven't noticed stranger, you've made yourself a road block for not only us but the other vehicles that pass here. Don't be stupid and make a scene, especially out here. No one will hear what happened to you for weeks."

After getting no response, Oswald brought his own rifle out and aimed it down at the creature's elongated head. Even though he was given exact orders in how to deal with situations like these, the company's general animosity towards non-humans means that they'll probably look the other way if he strikes first. The company's hatred towards these non-humans even rubbed its ugly head on him, making it hard for the Captain not to just kill the guy to get it down with.

"I'm done playing games! Get into that gas station to my right and maybe I'll forget this happened!"

The man's temper has been blown off the roof, not because of what's happening now though. This creature's intrusion might make this a late delivery. The boss would have his head if the package so much as came a minute man.

"Sir, give us the order and we'll decimate him with sheer gunfire." A guard behind Captain Oswald grunted, looking through his gun's barrel with a toothy grin.

Conscript Lee was by far the cockiest guard in the group, and he has a right to be. Most of the men guarding these trucks are seasoned mercenaries looking for a bountiful pay for doing practically child's work. Each one could go toe to toe with the legendary Deathstroke and perhaps survive. Hell, some of them worked with the guy.

The captain began to weigh his options into reasonable conclusions. The captain wanted to kill the bio-android as much as his men, but he wants to keep his job even more. Unforeseen negative implications could occur as soon as the first bullet flies off their guns, especially to the fact that they don't even know just how powerful this creature is. As a matter a fact, they don't even know _who_ he is, and they have quite an extensive list of likely people to stop them on the road. He isn't close to matching one of them.

 _Which begs the question... the hell is he doing blocking our path?_

As the mercenary captain contemplated, the being in front of him did the same. It's black slit pupils looked dead at the crew lifelessly, every so often bouncing around to get a good view of the environment. It was only when the captain had made his decision that Cell made his own.

"So no one will hear about what transpires here. Perfect."

The captain was above the supposed physical limits of humans, having been injected moderate amounts of biochemical enhancers. Sure, he may not be as powerful as a superhero, but he was not far behind that rank. He barely dodged a very weakened Cell's tail, having slightly moved away just in time. He didn't even see the creature move over to them in the first place. The guard behind him wasn't nearly as fortunate, as even the armor that protected his chest did little to stop the tail from piercing his entire chest. The men watched as the life in their comrade drained away literally, losing muscle mass in a rate that seemed horrifyingly unnatural. One soldier tried to end the man's suffering by cutting the tail with his combat knife, but Cell saw the thing coming and hardened the tail. The knife broke into two, and they were reduced once more to watch a man die in front of their very eyes. It didn't take long however, because he was dead in as little as ten seconds.

No one knew who made the first shot, but one of the men had completely lost their cool, shooting the murderer in a haze of frenzy and vengeance. The others followed the guard's example as well, completely ignoring their orders and avenging their fallen friend.

"You idiots!" Captain Oswald yelled out, as the men fired everything they've got. Even their grenades were utilized, as several frags flew into the air to wreak havoc on the enemy.

It quickly became painfully clear that nothing they did worked. Bullets and grenades only slowed down Cell's eerily slow approach. He nondiscriminatory picked another target from the 5 that were left, plunging the tail through the guard's gun barrel, and began the absorption process as soon as it plunged straight through her eye. Cell felt a soothing feeling while absorbing these people, his wounds from the battle before healing way faster than just lying in wait, which was definitely needed before he could venture any further in this new world. By the time the fourth target was absorbed the truck already began to leave, with the Captain and a single guard left to die at the hands of the creature. Captain Oswald had a different agenda.

He pushed aside the last guard to stumble apart his footing, practically giving the man a death sentence as Cell transfixed his tail into him. There was a certain twinge of hatred that befell the dying man when he was betrayed by his own Captain. It reminded him just how selfish, cowardice, and broken his superior really was. Before he could think of anything else though, his mind suddenly vanished, sucked into an abyss that screamed the screams of thousands.

Oswald ran opposite of the gas station, cutting into the forest that had as well encircled the 7/11. His chase for freedom was short lived, with the beast magically teleporting in front of him. After squealing a high pitched scream, he ran the other direction of this creature. The monster was in front of him before he even made a full turn.

With no ammo left in his assault rifle, he did the fruitless effort of shooting him with a pistol, each bullet ricocheting off his body. By the time he wanted to end his life as cleanly as possible with the pistol, he checked and found out that it was empty. Oswald looked up, a terrifying monster stood in front of him. There was no prejudice, smarminess, cockiness, or hatred left. Only fear remained.

His bloodcurdling cry was heard across the entire forest and beyond.

* * *

"The estimated total of lives lost in this tragic incident yesterday is estimated to be well over a thousand. Firefighters are working nonstop to not only extinguish the flames but to save as many citizens as possible. There are no known survivors that know the appearance of the culprit, and heroes Superman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter that were all at the scene have decided to stay quiet on the situation. We will be personally tracking this story all week to give updates as fast as possible. This is Stacy Adams, KBC news will return after this short break."

Batman sat in the watchtower's meeting room, silently listening to the news before turning it off during commercials. He had company at the moment to converse with instead. Trunks, Superman, Bulma, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter all sat before the detective, each sitting exactly where Batman thought they would despite the fact of a lack of seating order. The Flash was too injured to make an appearance, instead sitting down in the League's infirmary.

What caught Batman's attention though was the newcomers' Trunks and Bulma, one being the fighter who traded blows with this new threat, and the latter the genius who brought the two to this universe in the first place. The dark knight felt somewhat relaxed after eyeing Bulma. She was not only intellectually on par with him, but a human as well. They would've made good friends had she existed in his universe.

Before Batman could drift his mind any further, he doubled back in his chair and wheezed out a convincing cough to not make his situation any more awkward than it is. His tactic was successful, as the confused eyes of his fellow superheroes turned into eyes of understanding. With that out of the way, it was just about time for Batman to kick off the meeting.

"As you all know, we lost a member of the team." Batman began. Everyone bowed their heads down for a bit as a sign of respect for Cyborg.

"Moving on, good thinking in keeping the information private from the public Superman. We don't know how the public will react if information spills." Batman spoke out, with the man he's addressing sitting to his left.

"Thanks, but I only prolonged the inevitable. This Cell doesn't seem to be the type of person to waste time. I'm certain he'll be back killing again as soon as his injuries heal."

Just then, the scar Superman received from Cell under his costume sleeve twitched in pain. He knew it would undoubtedly heal, but the fact that he sustained so many injuries as it is made a constant reminder to him that there were no playing games with someone like him. To him, Cell is a Darkseid that lives on Earth. Cold, calculating, and ruthless. He didn't have to meet the bio-android more than once to figure this out.

"So you suppose we send some heroes to track him down?"

"No. I've seen his power. He's too strong for most of the Justice League to handle." Superman's mind suddenly lingered back to when he saw that horror in the central park. Cyborg's remains were just littered carelessly in the park while that green menace stalked for more prey.

His vision felt all too real to him. He can feel his boiling rage when he saw the mass murdering creature talk to him so nonchalantly.

 _Did the beast even care? Did he even feel the slightest shred of remorse when he killed those people? Did he even have the dignity to come back and fight me like a man? No, it's not even a he, that degenerate piece of shit. When I get my hands on it I'll-_

"Superman," The superhero quickly got back his senses when he heard Wonder Woman's voice. His vision and emotions vanished into reality. He looked up at the concerned looks of the people sitting around him.

"I'm okay! I'm… okay." Superman spat out, pretty much solidifying their concern for him. He touched his forehead and inspected the sweat on it, before hastily wiping it out with his sleeve while the others watched.

"Anyway," Batman began, diverting the group's attention back to him. "I already came up with a contingency plan."

"Cell must be extensively researched upon, including where he came from and how can we send him back as fast as possible. That's our safest bet at defeating him. In the meanwhile, we need only the stronger members tracking him down, with everyone else only charting his location and leaving him alone if they spot him. These members will also replace the stronger ones in terms of defeating their local villains. Citizens in Cell's region of the United States should be moderately packed in pockets so that in the case of an attack, there will still be time to save them, and as well to minimize damage. Anything too small of a population could die off in the blink of an eye, and too big could cause further unnecessary deaths just trying to evacuate them all. Eventually, we'll have to detain him using researched methods or by brute force."

"Detain? Are you serious right now?"

Trunks sat at the far end of the table with his mother, as they were required to be here due to their connection to Cell. The conversation steered in a way too much for Trunks to bear, so blurted out what he felt.

"I know that this universe is divergent of mine, and I completely understand the need not to kill every single danger to the planet. But seriously? Cell? Do I have to remind you that he already killed an unimaginable amount of people? There is no gain in keeping something like that alive, only the ever stressful fact that he could one day just bust out of the damn cell and kill some more. I live in a universe where there are mechanical monsters like him that kill people like it's a _game_. This isn't stooping to some low level; this is righteous!"

The heads of the Justice League looked at the boy with mixed feelings, shrouded around the belief that all life should be preserved, not just the victims. These feelings though weren't as hard pressed as one would think they are. Their idea of no killing is preferred, but not the only option the Leauge will take.

One exception to this silent judging was Martian Manhunter, who sat a few seats away from Trunks. He managed to gravitate the attention of the room over to him without saying a word, a passive ability he rarely takes advantage of.

"I'm sorry for what you've been through Trunks, but believe me, when I say that killing is not the answer." Martian Manhunter replied back the teenage boy.

"Batman has said something to us a while back that we all stand by now. That if we were ever to kill, to ever intentionally murder even a villain, we'll never be the same. Killing changes you."

Before Trunks could have a chance to protest, Wonder Woman grunted for the attention to move over to her.

"I understand where you're coming from Trunks. I believe in saving everyone, even the villain who has placed the victims in their fatal situation in the first place. But someone of Cell's magnitude in power, especially since he thrives upon killing other people, needs to by any means. If I ever encounter Cell, it'll be the intent to subdue. But if I can't detain him..."

The rest of the heads looked at Wonder Woman not with fury, but in surprise. Her warrior like upbringing may make her the most likely to say such a thing, but they never expected anyone to say anything opposite from their unwritten rule.

"If I remember correctly, you wanted to show us something Bulma?" Wonder Woman questioned.

The turquoise haired lady reddened up a bit, surprised at the fact that she was even acknowledged in this conversation. She shared the same beliefs of justified killing as her son, which was why she never interrupted him when he spoke out. At first, she was dumbfounded when the super-heroine talked to her, but quickly remembered what she had needed to do and dived straight into a box she had brought with her from the time machine (the time machine nestling safely in its capsule container). She fished out a purple scouter with the capsule corp design, as the group besides herself and Trunks stared curiously at the otherworldly technology.

"I'll make this quick for you all. This little thing in my hand is a scouter. It's some alien technology that goes on your ear and allows you to communicate and locate others. Unfortunately, though, the locator is defunct. The best purpose of the device is to calculate the strength of whomever, it targets. I was going to give this to the people of the universe we were supposed to go to, but since we decided to help you guys out with Cell you all should use them."

Batman walked over to the box and picked a red scouter out, inspecting the odd contraption.

"You place it on your left ear," Bulma explained.

After inspecting it further, he placed it on his ear and looked around at the group, gathering snickers from Hal Jordan and the like. He took it off and placed it on the table.

"A better idea is to mass produce these, replace the logo with the Justice League and standardize it among our ranks. You think you can do that for us?"

"Really? Sure!" She said ecstatically, even with the fact that her Capsule Corp logo is to be removed. She's mostly stoked about the fact that she's not going to be entirely useless.

"There's a research lab in bottom section in the watch tower. Make yourself feel at home here. We'll take the scouters and manufacture enough to outfit the entire League. If they function as you've said, you'll be saving tons of lives." Batman delivered the lines a lot kinder than he usually talks, calling in through the nearby intercom to send a League member to take the scouters downstairs and begin mass production.

Batman once again diverted the attention to him, as Bulma was escorted to the lower levels of the tower (before of course giving Trunks the most embarrassing set of kisses possible).

"Unless any of you have something else to say," Batman began as he started to walk out of the room, his voice back to its old emotionless way. "I'm out of here."

The others followed suit, without even the usual dismiss call or Flash's speedy exit. As a matter a fact, Flash was traumatized after Superman showed Cyborg's remains to the point that he requested a week off. Once his wounds heal, Barry and Iris, his wife, intend to reside in his father's second home in a nearby city until all the flames in the city have been extinguished. It was up to him to tell Victor's grandparents that their last offspring has been killed off. And even worse; his death had done nothing to stop the very monster that killed him.

* * *

It's been rather known throughout Superman's career that Lex Luthor was one of his arch enemies. However, very rarely has Luthor ever been able to defeat the Kryptonian. No matter how much research is done on Superman to his very atom, no matter how much cash is thrown in to build some anti-superman weapon, that hero has always come out on top. Had it not been for the miracle that was bestowed to him a few years ago though, he would've started clawing away at his bald head for ideas.

A long time ago, Dr. Nero was a scientist who was a humanist as much as Luthor. He had devised a single creation that would outclass every other superhero combined, becoming the one true savior to a super-powerless humanity. He devised 20 years ago Project C-18, a project to extract the genes of superheroes deemed useful enough to fill into a single lab-created vessel. The project was eventually abandoned due to moral conflicts of the thing's purpose and design, but not without many failures and restarts. The project finally came to a close when the selfish heroes of Earth at the time destroyed the prototype instead of allowing it to work beside them (despite its true purpose being to kill them).

Luthor revived the project 5 years ago, with Dr. Nero as second head due to his resounding knowledge on the project. The project was moved to one of Luthor's underground lab facilities in Texas, where he is now. He dubbed the project C-19. While the project boomed with its bigger budget, the two's relationship slowly decayed due to their conflicting goals. Although Dr. Nero kept to himself, some of the scientists who worked with him in the project heard him talk about two people named Lapis and Lazuli, probably his children. Despite seemingly not having a reason to do so, Dr. Nero made a slew of unauthorized edits to C-19's genome when it was in its embryonic stage.

Upon learning this, Luthor had the old man killed as silently as possible. As much as they searched in the data modules for any changes, they only found a few of his edits. But with so much effort put into the project already, they just decided not to worry about it. One lasting thing Nero did though was never tell Luthor the end result of the project. Luthor will sometimes sit down in his office in the underground lab facility and pondered on what might C-19 turn out to be.

Luthor strode back and forth of the blue cocoon that contained his beautiful creation. The days of his fluid chamber stage is now over. His busted out of its small fluid chamber on its own, something that the scientists didn't anticipate. The cocoon it made itself on the lab table was also unexpected, which happened towards a month ago. Upon Luthor's command, they left it be, only jotting down notes on its progress from time to time.

"When is he supposed to completely shed?" Luthor asked, gazing at the hard shelled cocoon from afar. The scientist raised her eyebrow at the fact that Luthor called it _he_ instead of it, but she simply wrote it off after a moment.

"Everything happening now is completely unbeknownst to us sir. The only person who had a clue was Dr. Nero, and he's… well… dead."

"Yeah yeah, I get it, it was stupid for me to kill him and all," Luthor grumbled.

Luthor waved his hand to order the scientist back to work. While Luthor pondered on his now poor decision, a man dressed in black with glasses blazed into the room, holding a tablet with him. He ran straight for Luthor, which not only startled but agitated him.

"Luthor sir! You have to see this!"

A man only known by his alias, Courser, a specialist analyst, placed the tablet on the lab table Lex was sitting on, activating it to show a video with Central City torn up in flames. While he's already heard of the news, he didn't bother delving more into it, not with all his time being spent on overseeing project C-19. Watching Central City burn hasn't bothered him in the slightest, even the death toll didn't sting his senses. Had there been a Lexcorp owned building that burned in the fire, he would've cried like a baby for all the potential earnings he lost.

"How is this important?"

"That green looking alien over there. He's why."

Either that creature Courser pointed to was one of the gone wild experiments Star Labs was working on, or this is something most interesting. Courser must have had the same thought as well for showing him in the first place.

"There's absolutely no records of him at all from anywhere. It's like the guy just started to exist yesterday. He's either really good at hiding himself from the entire internet, or he actually just started to exist yesterday. Our sources also gathered information about a new traveler of this world called Trunks, who appears to be a regular human for the most part. However, much like Superman he can fly, possess super strength and speed, and can even fire some sort of energy ray. Not heat vision, but matches its destruction output nonetheless. It's crazy."

Luthor paid close attention to the scientist as he went through the image library of the tablet and revealed shots of a yellow and black machine that had a turquoise haired woman sitting inside of it. He quietly chuckled at the Hope sign written on the machine. Observing the woman closer though gave him intrigue, as he pieced that due to their ages and facial similarities, the woman inside the pod-like machine and Trunks are related, probably mother and son. What he couldn't figure out though was why the hell are they even here.

"Trunks arrived in that machine with the lady inside. Since they're likely human, we have reason to believe they're not from this Earth, but one of the other universes such as Earth-3. Not only that, but the creature and the two... universal settlers I suppose? They all might be correlated."

"No shit..." Luthor mumbled under his breath, which the data collector didn't pick up.

He had realized these things at least 10 times faster than this analyst, which irked him that he pays his hooligan sources top dollar to figure out things that five-year-old could guess. It makes not only his spies look bad, but the rest of his staff on the more lucrative side of Lexcorp. Are they all this stupid?

"I want to hear about this woman here. Her role in things seem too ambiguous for my liking. And as far as I can see, she may very well be the primary creator of the machine she's sitting in. That's technology I want. Where are they all now?"

"Our spies in the area saw Bulma and Trunks leave with the Justice League. They're likely with them."

Courser flicked to show a few pictures of Trunks and Bulma being submerged in a blue light, likely the teleporting effect in order to get into the League's watchtower.

"There are some other tidbits of information you'll want to know. For starters, this Cell managed to do toe to toe with Superman and our new boy wonder Trunks, making them both stronger than the analysts first presumed. Not only that, but he killed the superhero Cyborg, and Captain Oswald of the Intergang. He was put in charge of your delivery trucks."

Lex Luthor absorbed this information rather quietly, passively observing the cocoon nearby while the scientist spoke. He was surprised Cell even managed to touch Superman's ballpark. That type of power in Luthor's eyes must be manipulated, making them fill with glee at the thought of taking this Cell's genes and inserting it into C-19. The kind of power might make it exceed Superman's if it hasn't already. But that's just a dream too good to come true for Luthor, so he snapped out of it.

"As you were saying?" Luthor said to the data collector, who brought up a new image on his tablet. It now showed an image of one of their armored trucks left completely empty. It wasn't destroyed or its items taken away, it was deserted. As if they all had jumped out and never came back.

Lex did notice however one mind boggling clue. In one of the pictures shown, the front seat of the truck had its window pierced through by a moderately sized object, like a metal pole.

"The driver's clothes were left in the vehicle with a huge hole in the shirt. It's not a bullet. It's just bizarre." The scientist explained to Luthor with a scrunched up face. There was no doubt in Luthor's mind that it was Cell's doing.

"What about the rest of Intergang guards? Dead?"

"They have shared a similar fate to the driver, even Oswald. Every single person had a strange hole in their body that we can only assume to be what killed them."

"And the cargo?"

"The cargo was still left exactly where it was in the truck, surprisingly enough. The remaining two trucks loaded with the material left from the first one on their own. They are the reason why we even know about this."

"Will there be any change in the time of arrival?"

"No, sir. The shipment will proceed as planned."

"How ironic really. The one thing I can count on today is a group notoriously unreliable." Luthor breathed out in a chuckle.

Luthor continued to watch the cocoon in silence as the scientist left him, watching each crack expand while new ones' form. He did all of this with patience of course, even though he knew it was a matter of time. He wanted everything to be perfect for its birth.

As for the trucks, they aren't even heading to their location. Each one will make its trip to his headquarters in Metropolis, where they will deposit their loads and have it taken down the research site there. The trucks themselves weren't even necessary, they were targets so that he'll know Cell's location ahead of the Justice League. The fluid is just a contingency plan for if C-19 fails in his only mission, not that he believes it will.

Watching the cocoon almost made Luthor want to caress it. He wanted his creation to end the man of steel without any complications this time.

* * *

 **A/N:** Sorry for the wait! It's not like I took the entire summer off so don't get mad at me or anything. The reviews for this story had made me feel motivated for this story. Even though it took me a while to get back on my feet, I'm here to provide the goods!

 **Also, just putting it out there, remember Dr. Nero…**

 **FYI,** KBC news is the newscast from the Saiyan saga in DBZ. They had talked with Yajirobe during Goku and Vegeta's fight.

And that's it! I'm going to see if I can get the next chapter ready for very early July (July the 3rd maybe? 4th? 5th? somewhere around there).


	4. C-19

Chapter 4

 _C-19_

While the Justice League paired up with the United States government to find and take down Cell, the bio-android has been doing his work for the past few weeks. He has been absorbing pocket towns and villages across the United States, carefully destroying city cameras and even destroying a satellite that momentarily tracked his location. He was terribly careful about the places he had gone, with knowledge of almost the entire planet due to the mass of people he has absorbed by now. But even with a mental map of the whole continent, he still made some slip ups. He hasn't encountered more than a ragtag team of local police yet, but he figured it was only a matter of time before something beyond his control brings about his inevitable duel with a superhero. Although the bio-android was confident about his strength, even he knows his limits.

The creature now skulks through a deserted street like a zombie, with empty cars littered across it with clothes that had holes in it. The small village that used to exist here were far more prepared to fight him then he could've guessed, using highly concentrated explosives and smoke bombs to rather than stop his approach slow him down. Still, the town's 'defenders' had their lives stripped in a single stroke, and its people shared the same fate rather quickly. Even he was amazed at how fast he can absorb people now. It used to take upwards to at least 15-30 seconds to absorb someone. At this rate, his victims wouldn't even have the chance to _think_ to scream.

"What's this?" Cell croaked, as his talon-like feet stepped on a crumpled piece of paper.

Usually, something like this wouldn't even begin to faze him, as his mind is always either preoccupied thinking his next move or in anger about the fact that he can no longer become perfect. He looked down anyway to see just what he stepped on. Curious, he picked it up.

 **Warning**

 **Citizens should be on extreme alert of a being named Cell. Cell is a very powerful being that for an unspecified reason, absorbs people using the tail on his back. He is highly intelligent and has acute senses. He is currently roaming the state of Pennsylvania, where analysts expected he continues northeast.**

 **Above is a crude photo of Cell from a few weeks ago. This photo is currently the only known picture of him.**

 **There is no killing him, and there is no stopping him.** **He cannot even be slowed down by a superhero. Those that are in his vicinity should hide from him, as alerting him to your presence is more detrimental. Citizens are also much recommended to move to the western side of the United States, or move to a new country temporarily until the problem is sorted out.**

 **The United States Army has deemed through research to be incapable of killing Cell as well. There isn't a superhero that can stop the beast either. A collaboration with the U.S. Army and the Justice League is currently underway, but as the mayor of this small town, I feel that it is my duty to inform you all of everything I know. It's also my obligation to tell you that I know very little. The Justice League apparently has not told us on all of the information they know, and that worries me.**

 **Alert your friends, family, and loved ones. Stay safe.**

"And what good did this do for your people?" Cell chuckled, balling up the paper and tossing it without discretion.

"All of these humans are worthless, cowering behind ill-fated plans forced to rely almost entirely on third-party metahumans. At least the humans in my universe had the will to fight and the dignity to die. I can admire that."

Cell continued to stare at the sun beyond him, being as still as a statue. Like Piccolo, Cell enjoyed these solitary moments.

"Now, time to pay my dear old friend Superman a-"

Cell almost instantaneously turned around to hear the faintest clinking sound, metal hitting metal. At first, he did not think anything of it and continued his path on the road. The more he walked away, the more it ticked him off he did not know what made that sound. After contemplating about the fact that he could be paying attention to nothing, he did a whole 180 and walked over to the two fallen pieces of metal that used to hold a sign together. This is what presumably made those clinking noises.

Then he heard another even fainter sound. It was continuous, unlike the clink he heard. He couldn't make it out at first, but the closer he was to a space between two small buildings the better he heard it. Soon enough it became apparent for the horrific creature, as the disgusting thing, he called a mouth began to form a smile.

 _Humans..._ he thought, as sensing for their ki confirmed this.

He stood full face to two adults and presumably one of the adult's daughter. One of the adults was covering the mouth of the girl, who was going to cry aloud if not for him. The other adult, or what's left of him took up most of the small space they have with his body lying flat on the floor in an unnatural position. Next to him was a silenced pistol. On his forehead was a red dot.

The remaining two looked at the horrifying being scared almost to death, as the man even took his hand off the girl's mouth for her to cry at the top of her lungs. He put his two knees down on the ground, staring at the creature defeated.

"Spare us... please. We have nothing left. Nothing of value." The adult said with tears streaking down his face. He had almost convinced himself earlier just to shoot himself and his daughter like his brother just did, but he was far too cowardice to take his life, especially that of his daughters.

Cell looked at the display of emotion with an unequally emotionless face. To him, he's seen it all before. Even in his short time here, he had seen people do things he never expected, from entire groups of individuals committing suicide before he even got there, to pathetic individuals that offered up the lives of coworkers, friends, or even family just so that they could stay alive. He's even seen those like the man on his knees before him, who have given up all hope and rest their fate in the miraculous chance that Cell might pity him, or that a hero might arrive to his aid. Unfortunately for those individuals, fate frowned upon them.

Oddly enough for such an emotionless, evil being that he is, Cell has a unique stance on life.

"Now there..." Cell said, raising his tail.

"All lives have value."

* * *

While Cell has been roaming the east coast of the United States, the majority of the Justice League has been in hot pursuit of him. No matter how much effort, they are always one-step behind, left to clean up his current mess. Typical biometric scanners and the like fail to work on such a being like Cell, since it not only will detect Cell but the countless people he absorbed into his body.

Those not tasked with finding him mostly filled up the roles of the rest of the superheroes. It could become quite a straining task to have to defeat your local villain and that of everyone else's. The select few capable of tangoing with the fearsome Cell usually train in the Justice League's training room, all just to keep up with Cell as his strength rises whenever he commits another massacre.

"I can feel your strength weakening Trunks."

"And yours isn't?"

A Super Saiyan Trunks and Wonder Woman exchange blows that created shock waves in their wake. The sight was so spectacular that the rest of the trainees around them got distracted, mesmerized until their training partner socks them in the jaw. The two fought almost evenly, which is something neither of the two expected from the other. Wonder Woman's better combat training though allowed her to get far more hits. She slipped in one well-placed fist in his gut, its force not only enough to send Trunks flying in the opposite direction but created its shockwave.

Trunks quickly got back up and walked over to her as if he was ending the fight, only to teleport once her guard dropped. He reappeared behind her and punched her in the back. The Amazon took the pain as a challenge, grabbing the fist from her back and throwing him in front of her. She continued to punch him in the stomach before receiving a kick to the face, causing her to fall abruptly.

One well-placed headbutt was enough to take the breath out of the Amazonian princess, as she instinctively tried to grab onto the floor to slow her down, ultimately just rupturing her nails. Once she came to a full stop, she continued the fight by bringing it to Trunks, kicking him precisely in the neck. A blow like that would end most people she knew, but Trunks was far more resilient than most people were. Trunks retaliated the blow with one of his own, a knee to the stomach. A punch to the jaw, a kick to the face, a blow to the stomach. The two began an exchange of blows that was not just a way to end the fight, but a challenge of endurance. Both wanted to see who would fall first to the pain.

To everyone else in the room, the two are obviously overdoing it. The fight was so enticing that the two harbored little to no regard for not only the safety of the people around them but the structure of the room itself. Who knows how long the place could sustain a fight like this before it starts to break apart?

Eventually, Trunks interrupted this little game with a sudden psychic burst of ki, another one of the many uses ki has. The sparks in his eyes manifested into a physical, yet invisible force of ki, causing Wonder Woman to take the full strength of the attack in a surprise. The force was so powerful that it caused her to bounce off the wall of the opposite side of the training room, a long distance away.

Even from that far away, Wonder Woman could see the toll of fighting untrained in the Super Saiyan transformation. It intrigued her a lot to see that a race of people could gain power from something like a transformation or a source of energy like the Kryptonians, but not when such a transformation has such drawback like Trunks's.

"This transformation of yours is taking away your stamina rapidly. How about you tap out before you pass out?" Wonder Woman explained, taking a knee so she could ease her exhaustion.

Trunks weren't in any better shape either, as he struggled to resist reverting to his normal state. He was sweating far more than Wonder Woman due to the stress on the body of fighting in the Super Saiyan state for extended periods of time. He estimated that the two have been going at it for probably close to an _hour,_ and fights of the past his mother used to tell him about have only lasted for a fraction of the time. Even the battle between Goku and Frieza Bulma said to him was around an hour at the most.

The teenage boy got up with much more effort than it appeared to be on the outside. Wonder Woman was in awe at the mass of willpower the boy has. It reminds her of not only herself, but also Batman, Superman, Martian Manhunter, and all those in the Justice League. He would have made such a great addition had the circumstances for his arrival been different.

"You're... you're kidding, right? I'm not falling to the ground until you do the same. Matter a fact, let's amp the gravity to 350-G."

"Wait what? 350-G? The hell?"

"You said it! I'm outta here!"

"Me too!"

"Make that four!"

"Make that all of us!"

The Amazon and the Human-Saiyan watched every person besides them in the training room leave for the apparent fear of their bodies turning into mush the moment they tune the gravity setting. Besides, by that point in Trunks and Wonder Woman's sparring match, most of them were just spectating instead of training themselves. As much as both warriors wanted to rationalize the trainees' leave, in the back recesses of their minds, they both think that they all are weak for fleeing when things just got started. It's something the two had inherited from their respective species.

Once everyone had left the room, Wonder Woman walked over the newly added control terminal in the middle of the training room. The terminal was an upgrade to the original training room, the new device installed by mechanics based on Bulma's gravity changer. The controls themselves are rather so easy to understand that even an idiot could figure them out. A simple combination of a few buttons was enough to dim the lights of the room and give it a red tint, which was the last thing she noticed before smashing into the tiled floor.

"My father used to train at 300-G when he couldn't even turn into a Super Saiyan. I usually do double of that, but I'll let you settle into this first." Trunks grunted, easily getting back up after the initial pushback.

Wonder Woman felt worse when the gravity took effect, unlike Trunks. She got up after a while, but not without a struggle.

"Ready?"

"Wait, I'm not that used to this gravity y-"

"Let's go!"

The time traveler dashed at Wonder Woman with an intense golden aura, extending his left leg for a kick. The princess, although slowed, was still able to see his approach and launch a counterattack. However, before his leg reached her, the teenager teleported directly behind her and threw her body in the opposite direction.

While she began to fly into the other wall, Trunks met up with her and slugged in a barrage of fists in vengeance of that gut punch earlier. Once he finished, he allowed her to collide with the wall, which surprisingly had a strong enough structure to withstand such a blow.

"You see? I may be losing my stamina faster than you, but suffice to say I'm still capable of kicking your ass. I thought you were supposed to be a match for me, not a one sided event. This didn't even feel like a battle, more or less of a warm up for me. In fact, I wasn't even going-"

"Ooof!"

Trunks was blown backward by a kick to the stomach so intense that he coughed up saliva, with a shock-wave severe enough to create cracks in the flooring. He was finished off with another backhand slam into the ground, knocking him out. His yellow aura faded back into nothing, and his golden hair was shimmering down back to its turquoise color.

"Never prattle on about nonsense when you're in a room where a small blow is now tens of tons of force. Must be that Saiyan pride talking in you." Wonder Woman scoffed, lifting the boy up to her shoulder like a prize.

While he wasted his time praising his attack in an almost goading like way, Wonder Woman took the time to dash at him with her full speed, which, coupled with his lowered guard, felt almost instantaneous to the Super Saiyan.

 _He's only 16, yet he has more potential than anyone I've met before. I_ _if he's trained..._

Her initial triumphant feeling slowly faded into something honorable. The fact that she could be holding one of the strongest beings on Earth felt much grander. She imagined days, weeks from now where they would spar in a much larger area for fear of destroying things. Where the two would trade blows that made the Earth tremble at their wake. The two would benefit from one another, learning techniques and attacks that could be useful in a real fight rather than some restricted sparring match in an enclosed space. And in the years to come if he ever revisits their Earth, they might need a new planet just for the old 'warm up'. She even had hoped that-

"Wonder Woman?"

The Amazon instinctively turned to the location of the voice as if it were a spear thrown at her. Instead of dodging such an object, she turned to see Hal Jordan, whose words are piercing enough. However, the way Green Lantern and everyone else sees it is Wonder Woman going into a state of delusion, stopping ever so often on her way to the medical bay to fantasize.

"Don't go weird on me again… ok?"

"Will do," She chocked up a smile for him to get him to stop worrying, but it only made it worse since her smiles look horrifying.

"Yeah…" Hal Jordan awkwardly began to walk the other way while Wonder Woman did the same, silently continuing her journey to the medical ward from now on.

* * *

The stronger members of the Justice League training in the Watch Tower is just a failsafe. The League's primary plan of action is to have Superman gather as much strength as possible by sitting in the core of the sun until Cell gets located. Once that happens, the coordinates will be transmitted to him through his new red scouter, and then they'll leave Superman to do the rest. Having spent weeks in the core by now, Superman is confident that he could probably one hit Cell into the very sun he's sitting in right now, but still could get outplayed by another one of Cell's cheap tricks. The fact that Cell likely knows most of his techniques by now might mean that he will see Superman's fist coming from a mile away.

Days before Superman had left the Earth; he assigned both Superboy and Supergirl to watch over Metropolis in his absence. They are one of the very few people Superman knows that could survive a duel with Cell if he just so happens to reach the city. He only requested the two not get too cocky if Cell arrives, they might underestimate his strength. In addition, he requested Lois to be out of harm's way.

It is amazing how deadly the combination of Metallo and Parasite can be to the regular Kryptonian. Both possess techniques that could deprive the two superheroes of their strength, as well as still having the power necessary to kill their opponent. When the two realized they had the biggest opportunity to cause as much chaos as possible with Superman's absence, they snatched it and ran far. However, they were not counting on both Superboy _and_ Supergirl to be there. The average Intergang member would squeal if they saw the powerful combination, but to the two supervillains, they thought of it as a bonus.

"Your powers are draining Supergirl. I can almost feel it slipping..." Metallo hissed, forcing her to bask at him with his kryptonite exposed completely. As he closed in for the kill, Superboy shared the same fate as her.

The clone of Superman proved himself careless when he was fighting, overestimating his strength compared to the villains. He had all the right to as well; as before the fight even began his red scouter calculated that the powers of the two supervillains combined were to be no match for him.

"Piece of a crap machine..." Superboy mumbled while wincing at the pain of the gut punch Parasite gave him moments ago. With the strength absorbed from him, the punch was so strong that it took the breath out of his lungs. The clone of Superman forced himself onto the city street, putting both knees down as he panted.

While he waited for the pain to subside and for Parasite to finish his slow walk towards him, he looked at Supergirl, seeing her life force drained from her while Metallo was closing in for the kill. With every he moved closer to her, it added to the struggle she felt to maintain her consciousness. Her own sub-conscious filled her mind with thoughts about the fact that she very well might end up dying. Were she more cautious about Metallo's kryptonite, she could've defeated him. But no, she, just like Superboy, underestimated the two supervillains.

"Get away. Get…away…"

"Huh? Still got some kick let in ya?"

 **"GET AWAY!"**

Using the reserves of both her willpower and strength, she exhaled an enormous, condensed ball of air, enough to send Metallo flying at least a hundred feet away and into the sky. It took so much air to do so that she thought she was going to pass out, but fortunately, the feeling did not last for long.

Once she turned around to Superboy and Parasite, she saw the two look at her in awe for performing such a feat.

"Nice attack. Now can you kindly trash this purple blob with me?"

"With pleasure."

Supergirl cracked her knuckles before flying off at breakneck speeds, the wind surrounding her in a violent swarm. She didn't even have to kick Parasite directly, the wind surrounding the kick was enough to send the villain flying. She flew at him in hot pursuit, using her super breath to blow him even higher into the sky. She flew towards him again even faster than before, cupping her hands as she pummeled him down with as much force as she could use.

All of this led to Parasite flying down to the street below so fast that a far away onlooker would have thought he was a meteor. Once he made contact, the road exploded in a mass eruption, destroying the road and pipelines below, replacing it with a large crater.

"Guess I wasn't even needed for this." Superboy scoffed as Supergirl touched down beside him.

"Your aim was a bit off, though. You put some dust on my brand new scouter."

"Whatever." Supergirl playfully punched Superboy hard in the shoulder, which she thought he could easily take it. He deceived her with half-smile. Supergirl frowned while fiddling around with her blue scouter. "They were the reason why we were about to get killed back there. We underestimated them because of some number."

"True," Superboy replied, dusting off his clothes and wiping a bit of dirt off his scouter. "But they do look kind of cool."

"I'll admit, putting a highly advanced alien device around your eye does make me a bit more badass. Not that I wasn't already, but let's take these guys to the MCPD." Supergirl said as she started walking down the crater towards a knocked out Parasite.

Instead of helping out Supergirl, Superboy took his attention towards an odd occurrence with his scouter.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing Supergirl?"

Supergirl did not understand what he was talking about at first, but upon focusing on her scouter, she noticed it automatically detected a massive power level. Even worse- it was closing in on them rapidly.

"Kal-El's coming early? But I thought we were going to wait until after we know Cell's location?"

"I don't know who, why or how, but whoever this is, they're going to be right on top of us in seconds."

Supergirl barely had even the chance to gulp at Superboy's comment before a yellow aura landed next to them. The aura encircled one of the most powerful beings on Earth now. He did not even belong on this Earth, but another one where he too was an unrivaled superpower.

Cell.

"Interesting… so you were the two I was sensing back in Pennsylvania. Power like yours is quite formidable, especially when it's combined."

"And you're the villain that not only destroyed Central City, killing countless people, but was able to kill Cyborg, beat Flash into a near critical condition, and still battle evenly with Superman," Superboy replied.

Once the bio-android nodded the approval of his statement, Superboy clicked on the scouter's speaker function.

"Watchtower to Superboy, Cell's in Metropolis." Superboy relayed to his scouter.

"Call all the support you want Superboy. I will take you all if I have to. No, I think I'll have to kill you two to get a little kick out of your cavalry. They'll fight better knowing you two are dead."

"Such a sick bastard…" Supergirl hissed, eager to fight such a vile creature like him, even if her scouter recommends otherwise.

"I might as well throw away the dead weight I got here before we fight. I was going to absorb him, but an entirely metal body won't do me any good."

Cell tossed Metallo's body into the crater, falling on top of Parasite. Before the two superheroes could even react, Cell obliterated the two supervillains with a quick blast, creating a massive dust cloud that smelt like burning metal.

"How could you? They were people!" Superboy yelled. Supergirl had this anger too.

"Oh shut up. You treat them the same way you treat me. A monster. Killing them must have been beneficial for the both of you, I probably saved you time from having to repeatedly –"

"That's it!"

While Supergirl angrily flew towards Cell with a torrent of wind surrounding her, Cell grew a grin. Her punch was far stronger than anything Cell could have anticipated, launching him into the building behind him after being tossed for about a mile. Cell erected himself off the building and angrily flared up ki, causing the entire city to tremble in his wake. Superboy and Supergirl, oblivious about ki and its uses, can feel the energy surging through Cell even from their distance.

The beast flew so fast it was like he teleported, appearing once again on the opposite side of the crater. For a moment he did not even speak, only staring down at his opponents while he wiped off the purple blood from the side of his… _mouth._ An unholy looking thing.

"Strange. Usually, the opponents I face would be asking a few questions before they die." Cell mocked while eyeing the two.

The creature took the time to look around the city from where he was, noticing that the city would be dead silent had he dissipated his golden aura. The city is completely deserted, which is horrible since the only reason he came out here was to absorb people in a high population density city like Metropolis.

"Where are the people?"

"Superman thought two steps farther than you," Supergirl replied in a snarky remark, agitating their opponent. "He knew that you were absorbing those people not only to be able to kill him. He decided to clear the city weeks beforehand and increase his power _exponentially_ until you inevitably make your way here. Once he makes it to the battlefield, you're finished."

At first, Cell's eyes widened at the danger he has brought himself. It was a foolish mistake to think that even absorbing tens of thousands of people would compare to a long dip in the sun for Superman. But…

"I'm no idiot to think that the odds haven't stacked against me. Since it will be a while for even a bolstered Superman to make it to Earth, I have plenty of time to kill you two and be on my way."

"Don't think it's going to be easy."

This time, it was Superboy to crack his knuckles, walking through the crater to get to Cell. For most of his time here, he has not laid much more than a few punches on the two villains that decided today was a good day to destroy Metropolis. They're dead now.

It was odd to face off with Cell. Superboy might have been pretty tall for his physical age, but Cell was massive compared to him. It was almost intimidating for the superhero.

"This is your last chance Superboy." Cell began, his aura brushing against Superboy's nose.

"Don't be the fool. A one on one fight with me would end up putting you on the business end of my tail. You have nothing to prove here. Just call in your cousin so that she may prolong your fate."

"You know Cell… you have all that information stored in that head of yours, yet you don't know how cocky I can get."

"So be it, punk."

Cell kicked the boy square in the chest, creating a shockwave larger than his body. If there was any air in his lungs or saliva in his mouth before, it is surely not there now. It was going to take much more than a little kick to get Superboy out of the game, though. When Cell thought he had the boy bested, Superboy lunged at him with his kick to the face, making him skid across the street and taking a good portion of it with him.

He may not be as strong as Supergirl or any Kryptonian under a yellow sun, but he sure as hell is robust enough to carry his weight. Once Cell had got up and lightly brushed off the dirt from his shoulders, he flew at Superboy with his fist ready, amplified with ki. Superboy heaved and brought back his fist to prepare for Cell, while Supergirl starts nervously shuttle walking in the opposite direction.

The shockwave the fists colliding created was so massive that it caught up to Supergirl instantly, its unparalleled force propelled her forward as if the gods themselves pushed her with all their might. The strength of the blow was big enough to envelop the crater that existed by Parasite hitting the ground earlier, with the hole produced by this new blow is already four times larger. Even the buildings around them crumbled as the foundation slowly eroded away by the force of the shockwave.

Once the aerial field dissipated, Superboy and Cell exchanged their barrage of blows, each fighter slipping in a punch or two as they parried for the most part.

"Gaaah!" Cell screamed in agony, while Superboy elbowed his jaw.

"Ugh!" Superboy yelled as he took the force of Cell's punch square in the stomach again. Even though he felt like he wanted to double back and fall from the immense pain, he kept fighting.

One slip up from the creature before him was enough for Superboy to go berserk, punching and kicking away at Cell. The attacks were so powerful that he couldn't even maintain a fluid motion, his attacks becoming rigid looking and sharp like a poorly animated animation. Through this endless combination of fists and kicks, his pride got the best of him, and he thought he could keep going forever. This pride became his undoing when he failed to realize how astute Cell is. Cell dropkicked the boy onto the ground and picked him up by his feet, making the blood rush to his head.

"Well, you weren't a complete disappointment." Cell charged up a ball of ki in his free hand while Superboy watched, frantically thinking of a solution of escaping his demise.

Not even a second before the ball of ki reached his chest, the clone of Superman blasted it with his heat ray vision, prematurely igniting it. What came as a result was a humongous explosion that engulfed the two for a few seconds before spitting them out. They blew away in opposite directions, traveling hundreds of yards into the air before slamming down on both ends of the street.

"We get it Superboy; you want to prove yourself," Supergirl said, walking closer to him.

She picked him up before he moved her aside so that he could get up on his own.

"Now can we fight him together? We can beat the shit out of him if we do."

"F-fine…" Superboy wheezed out, falling back into the ground.

There was little time for them to prepare for Cell's subsequent emergence. Unbeknownst to them until the very last second, Cell was charging up his kamehameha, quickly gathering enough strength to destroy the planet. He didn't even bother yelling out his attack like most fighters, having learned through the people he has absorbed that doing so would only work to his detriment.

Supergirl and Superboy counteracted this hurtling ball of blue energy with their heat vision, incinerating their scouters as the beams joined into one and collided with the kamehameha. The collision point created an immense sphere around it, increasing in size each second. Unlike the beam struggle Superman and Cell had a while back, this one was at least twice its size. Just the force surrounding the two energies alone was enough to make entire areas throughout the city break apart. Buildings shook and crumbled into debris. Streets, sidewalks, lamps and everything not naturally placed on Earth's surface on ground zero began corroding away.

Had Supergirl and Superboy used their full power instead of fearing that if they do they'll destroy the city, this would've been over. Cell was the only one to get serious.

 **"FULL POWER!"**

"Oh shit!"

The energy flowing through Cell's hands destabilized and burst violently, making the Kamehameha dominate the blast struggle. As a matter a fact, the blue blast dominated the heat visions so much that it took up almost all of the visible energy. The two were brought down to their knees.

With no viable way to counteract the energy wave as it is now, Superboy only saw one option.

"We have to tank it!"

"What?"

"It's the only way! I'd rather die than have the planet destroyed!"

"You're… right." Supergirl nodded with a heavy heart. Superboy nodded back.

Just when the two were about to close out their energies, an entity flew down before them as if it came from the heavens themselves. The sky was dark due to when Cell charged up his kamehameha and coupled with the fact that they were focusing on breaking the kamehameha that the two couldn't tell who or what just flew down. The thing did not fly down to help or to spectate. No, it flew down into the heart of the collision, which made all three of them blink twice. What happened next was even weirder.

Naturally, a flow of energy like a kamehameha fixates on an obstacle until either the obstacle's destruction or the blast loses momentum. The being that flew down defied this natural law entirely, the energy instead pouring _into_ the entity. The collision point became smaller and smaller until it was just two light beams hitting the body's chest and back. Once the energy was too little to cover this person's body, Cell gasped.

"Wait, I know you!"

"I know. Now die."

The entity now did something even more miraculous than the stunt he just pulled off. Through his chest, Cell's kamehameha was sprouted back at Cell. Due to such a surprise like that, Cell was too shocked to retaliate in any form, taking the full impact of his blast. The energy tore him apart as if he was nothing, allowing the flow of energy to continue. It went on for at least a mile before the entity had to redirect upwards into space, where it violently exploded. Fortunately, for the Watchtower, it was on the opposite end of Earth's orbit.

The skies cleared, and the smoke and debris dissipated where the entity and the two superheroes were, and now the two had the perfect chance to get a good look at Earth's savior.

"Wait, Captain Atom?" Supergirl said to the silver superhero as he turned around.

"How did you get here?"

"Don't underestimate the resourcefulness of the United States Military. Captain Atom said with a finger raised, annoying her.

"A tracking satellite seconds before it blew up pinned his location at Ohio, where analysts around the clock guessed due to Cell's north eastern movement that he will be going to New York for a rematch with Superman."

"Spoken like a true US military dog. Half your training must have been making you sound monotone." Superboy remarked with a smirk on his face, annoying him.

"So would you two mind telling me what you were doing fighting an opponent like that with no backup? I haven't left the League long enough to forget that you'll need backup. Where is Superman anyway? More importantly, what with the burnt white thing covering your right ears?"

Superboy and Supergirl remembered about the scouters and blushed when they reminded themselves that they destroyed theirs. They took the broken device off their ears and threw it on the street or more like the ground at this point. It was then when a rush of unnaturally flowing air breezed through them, as the three looked up to see Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter drop down to their location.

"I'm surprised to see you here Atom." Wonder Woman said, firming herself on the ground. "But we can use all the help we can get."

"Situations like this cause the US to force their hand, and that hand is me. I'm only a substitute of the ineffective army against Cell."

"So what happened here?" Martian Manhunter questioned while studying the destroyed battleground. The visible destruction of the area prompted the question.

"And where are your scouters?" He said, touching the blue colored glass of his scouter. He barely needs or even uses it, but it would be nifty on the rare occasion he cannot use his powers or for calculating his opponent's power.

"I'll explain," Superboy said as he folded his arms.

But before he could even begin, Wonder Woman's scouter just went haywire. She turned left and right to see what the problem is but ultimately realized what indeed was causing the scouter to have issues.

"Cell! Cell's underground!"

"What?"

That was the last thing Superboy was able to say before the entire ground ignited in an incalculable explosion, covering and destroying the entire city.

* * *

"It's hatching sir! It's hatching!"

Every single person in the laboratory rushed to the medical table as they watched their creation slowly emerge from the cocoon. Years of cautiously added DNA coding in a formula that doesn't terminate the embryo, to patiently waiting for the being to do its growth in its cocoon has led to this.

"Out of the way!"

Lex Luthor stormed his way in to get the best view of the creature's birth. He watched, astonished at what he saw as the being's blue flesh started to reveal itself fully.

 _Odd… the textures of its skin look familiar._

Eventually, the limbs began to stretch out, as the being propelled itself faster by placing his hands down and applying pressure. The creation was far bigger than anyone would have guessed, enough to raise the attention of the guards that were also watching nearby. Its full emergence was quick, having grown too large for its cocoon, so it was forced to move forward.

"I… It's Cell!" A scientist amongst the crowd nervously yelped. He wasn't completely wrong.

It looked exactly like Cell, but with a few cosmetic changes. Its skin is blue-green, and about a foot shorter than Cell, making him about the height of a very tall human. It doesn't sport an absorption tail, though, and its skin a lot smoother looking than its counterpart, making it look considerably younger as if the two even have ages.

The biggest difference between the two Cells is that this Cell is completely docile. While its counterpart would've probably begun slaughtering these humans as soon as he emerged, this Cell is just standing there, the only movement even done is getting off the table and onto the ground, where the scientists 'happily' gave him room. Once the green fluid from the cocoon began to dry off him, he just continued to stand there, completely fixated at Luthor. As a matter a fact, ever since his eyes even emerged out of the cocoon he was staring at him.

At this point, no one was aware of the creature's abilities other than an educated guess. It's anybody's guess as to why he looks almost _exactly_ like Cell.

"I get it. Dr. Nero's unidentified work must have been to collect the cells of this new Cell. How he did is beyond me. You," Luthor pointed at the nameless creature in front of him, even though he already had its attention. "Your name is C-19."

Luthor placed his hand on C-19's shoulder, making a warm expression in his face. C-19's black slit eyes continued to stare at him emotionlessly and unmoving.

"Why C-19?" C-19 said in a raspy voice. His vocal cords are still warming up and adapting to the new language he just picked up.

"The C represents the name of the project you were created in, Project Cell. The number is the amount of failed works these idiots had before your creation. You were the nine-tenth."

"I see, Luthor…" C-19 hissed, putting his right hand on his chin.

He slowly placed it back to his side, his eyes narrowed.

"What shall I do next, master Luthor?"

"Master?" Most of the crowd said in unison, while Luthor couldn't help himself to let a grin slip out. The scientists worried about what this means.

"Liar! You proposed to us that this creation was for the human race! Not some servant to you! He was supposed to save millions!" A scientist spoke out from the fearful crowd, cutting through the mass to meet face to face with this Cell.

Luthor's grin faded away as he silently glared at the woman who dares defied his wishes. He was pissed off; enough to give all of these fools a show of force.

"Your work here is no longer needed, as with all of you. The supplies here were just a failsafe if C-19 fails to live. You see, _I_ am its true creator, not you. Without me, this entire project would've fallen apart for the second time. I supplied this crew with the means to even keep this laboratory that Dr. Nero used for during the first experiment trials. It was I who paid out the Intergang and even the damn Joker to get cells from the superheroes. I did the most work out of this shit hole. And for that, he belongs to me, not you pathetic fools who rely on my money to do such a lackluster job!"

Lex Luthor gently flicked the scientist nose from the bottom up, allowing his devilish grin to surface fully on his mouth. Every single person in the room, even the guards, were now afraid of him. Or really, what he is about to do next.

"C-19," Luthor began, pointing at the female scientist. "Kill her."

"Yes, master." He hissed, extending his hand out to begin to draw the energy needed to blow a hole in her head. He didn't need much.

"Wait," Luthor said, putting his hand over the creature.

"Just kill them all. Blow up this damn laboratory." The whole lab began to roar in fear.

"You wouldn't dare!" The female scientist yelled out with tears streaking out of her eyes. She grabbed his hands in desperation as if they would even make a difference.

Luthor allowed her passive aggressiveness to continue for a bit until he forced her away from him, which was the last thing she could ever do or see before her entire vision encompassed by a yellow flow of energy. This flow of energy eliminated every obstacle in its way, exploding in a strong, violent eruption. The explosion was so massive that it couldn't even contain itself in the confined space of the laboratory. It burst a hole open to flow out some of the intense destabilized energy.

This passage was C-19's escape, leaving in an energy shield so he could remain unscathed in the explosion. Of course, he mainly did it so that he could leave his master Luthor unscathed as well. The two emerged from the explosion in the desert of Texas, far away from civilization to even hear or see a bit of what transpired below.

"C-19," Luthor said as the shield shined away, while C-19 eagerly awaited his master's orders.

"There is a being named Cell that is almost exactly like you in appearance and abilities because you very likely take most of your genetic material off him. He isn't your primary target but examine him carefully, he's like your cousin, but you hate him. Your real aim is to kill Superman, another powerful being that you take some of your genetic material from. He is very likely to be where Cell is. Find him, and kill him."

"Yes, Master Luthor."

With that, the creature levitated off the ground and flew away in a blue aura, blasting off in full power when he knew his master was far enough away not to get harmed by going that fast. Lex Luthor stood there, deviously smiling at what the future holds for his deal old friend Superman. That faded when he realized he made a big mistake.

"How the hell am I gonna get out of here?"

* * *

 **A/N:** THAT. WAS. AWESOME (IMO)! This is by far the biggest chapter I've done to date in ALL my time of writing, totaling in an unprecedented 8.3k WORDS! For comparison, the last story I made, "End Game" (which is also a Dragon Ball Z and Justice League crossover), has its biggest chapter at 4,677 words. This is almost TWICE AS BIG! And that was a long time ago. The amount of words I put per chapter has increased even higher since then.

I'm implementing a new segment to my A/N that's borrowed from by a particular favorite fanfiction writer (Kalkarot I'm looking at you). I'm currently taking questions from the review page and answering them here, starting with the questions of all the currently published chapters. That way everyone could know what I think when you guys ask me questions, and not just the creator of that review via PM.

But before I do that too, I'll do the regular stuff. The informational stuff.

· Before you bombard the review section with answers about why C-19 doesn't have an absorption tail, you have to remember something. That's not a part of his purpose. He's to take orders from Luthor, not get stronger to the point of possibly overthrowing him.

Here's the new segment.

 **Kalkarot (Chapter 3):** I understand what you're saying, and she should've been reluctant to killing, not unwilling to. But she already made her stance on killing since the first chapter, so I can't fix anything. I know I switch tenses but it's so hard not to! It's like my fatal flaw. I'll try my best to fix this up but I have no guarantees of the result. Do you think this chapter was better in fixing that?

 **Astroman1000 (Chapter 2):** Thanks for the motivation bro! I hope you're happy to hear that I am well motivated now by you guys. You may be a small group of readers, but the fact that people are reading is good enough for me.

 **Kalkarot (Chapter 1):** They're based off of many things, but primarily off of the Justice League Unlimited TV show and the New 52. However, I create their power levels.

 **Itheone (Chapter 1):** Bulma and Trunks already have made their appearances in this new universe in chapter 2. But you this review before that so…

 **Innocentsmilehehe (Chapter 1):** He does know about the world as I've told you through PM, but at first he thought it was his world. When he absorbs knowledge it doesn't mean he has to believe whatever he absorbs, nor does it automatically change any of his predisposed information. In short, he just didn't know about this new universe until he thought about it.

 **Lord Sigfry (Chapter 1):** I've decided that Cell when he first started off in this story was as strong as Final Form Frieza. Now he's as strong as he was when he first fought against Piccolo in the main DBZ timeline. Remember that everyone in the story is significantly weaker than their DC or DBZ counterparts.


	5. The Shallow Replacement

**DISCLAIMER:** I own neither Dragon Ball or DC Comics.

* * *

Dust swept the land as an encore of the recent destruction. It shrouded the extensive damage done to the area of the explosion, which, suffice to say, hides the fact that Metropolis is destroyed. It is the equivalent of a barren wasteland, or the aftermath of a widespread bulldoze. It funny really, just a simple, concentrated blast was enough to cost the United States close to trillions in repair costs, as well as leaving millions homeless. They are all probably looking through their refugee camps just a nick outside of their city and staring at the smoke filled sky in horror. Such a sight has no words yet is one of the funniest jokes of all.

Do not worry; the rag tag team of superheroes is still alive and well, save for a few scratches here and there. Tanking hits that could blow up a city is not new to any of them. From the dust and ashes of the fallen Metropolis city, the heroes rose up one by one, each one of them realizing the frightening revelation that Cell does not care at all of what happens to the planet. Most of them were used to fighting supervillains that had morals, or at least their twisted sense of it. You know the saying, "Even Hitler loved his cat".

.

.

.

"Look at that destruction… Cell erased Metropolis off the map in a single blast." Batman could not take his eyes off the Watchtower's satellite feed, one of the many functionalities the giant ship in the sky can do. He is not fazed much about the state of Metropolis; he has already seen Cell ruin an entire city already. But Batman _clearly_ underestimated the power the bio-android possesses. And the more he thinks about it, the more he believes that that wasn't even close to a _1/10_ _th_ of Cell's true power.

"Now would you start believing me and my data Batman?" A particular turquoise haired woman said, turning her chair over to face the brooding bat. After mass-producing scouters and shipping them to every Justice League member with excess left over in case of 'emergency', Bulma refocused into finding out more about Cell through some blueprints she accidentally found in Dr. Gero's lab when searching for the blueprints of the androids.

Fortunately, for her and Trunks, they found both. They kept Cell's blueprints in case anything rises up about him, along with using the blueprints for androids 18 and 17 to create a self-destruction device. It was pure chance that Bulma thought about bringing them along.

She had ended up making tons of breakthroughs about Cell than anyone else, learning about his regenerative process, a rough estimate of his original maximum physical and energy output, his reasons behind absorbing people, his reasons behind absorbing these 'androids' Trunks heard him talking about, and much more. However, Batman, who always undermined her studies though initially trusting her, does not truly have any entrustment for the two outsiders. He would always stalk around by the corner of her eye, secretly looking at her research and casually acting as if he just got in the room. Things have changed since then, as he started to warm up to her and accept her research. Nevertheless, up until now he has not truly accepted the fact that Bulma's universe created a being so powerful.

The OMACs that have long since been eradicated have _nothing_ on the biomechanical android. A mere flick of the wrist is all this Cell apparently needs to end every single one of those viral droids. Hell, he could even pose a serious, if not extremely critical threat to Brainiac if his power continues to rise as it is. All of these things cause Batman to realize what horror Cell truly is, born in a cave-like lab to a scientist who wanted nothing more than the one called Goku's destruction. What he got however, was a monstrosity that will end the universe if left unchecked.

"Yes… I believe you now. I just could not believe that something with such limitless power was created. Believe me when I say that there are definitely odd things in this universe, but this is like something off a science fiction horror book." Batman always mentally laughed at the data of Cell's capabilities, creating believable excuses in his head to avoid the truth.

"Then believe me Batman when I say that this is nothing."

"What?" Batman's eyes expanded like a cartoon character, his curiosity peaking.

"Look, from what I hear this universe is about as crazy as our own. Do you see the similarities between Frieza and Darkseid, or many of our universe's evils that are next to parallels to yours? Your Justice League and our Z-Fighters defeated enemies that were thought impossible to defeat before. With both of our intelligences and strengths combined, he's no match." Bulma explained this with a smirk, prompting Batman to think.

"Now that you mention it… he really is just another villain…" Batman put his finger on his chin while Bulma turns back to her computer for a quick glimpse of some data before turning back around. He did not care for the idea of concealing his identity to someone that he will never meet again, so he ended up taking it off and explained his identity earlier.

"Ya, just think about it for a second Bats! Superman is going to come down to Earth in less than 10 minutes, which is more than enough time for the guys down at Metropolis to stall. Once Superman comes in, wham! Cell's down."

"There's something else clogging my mind Bulma."

"And what's that?"

"Where's Trunks?"

* * *

 **The Watchtower**

 **Training Room**

 **750x Gravity**

Trunks is literally down on the ground, covered in his own sweat and tears.

"Must… surpass… Diana…"

* * *

 **The Watchtower**

"He's off training in that training room of yours, for the billionth time. That Wonder Woman superhero is really making Trunks more aggressive."

"So that's why he isn't in the fight down at Metropolis?" Batman replies, annoyed by the fact Trunks could turn the tides in the battle at some point. However, Bulma was not worried at all, with the expression on her face confirming this.

"Trunks discussed with me earlier about this actually. He guessed that even Cell's increasing power would not stand a chance against the group of superheroes already deployed, especially if you factor in Superman's own fluctuating power. He self-assigned himself as a reserve."

 _That kid has some nerve…_ Batman thought, awkwardly clenching his fist. Bulma looked at him in confusion before Batman realized that she was there, silencing his thoughts in the process. It was hard to see in a room illuminated only by the three monitors on the computer Bulma's using, but Batman blushed.

"Okay then…" Bulma said calmly to the peculiar situation, jerking her chair back to the computer. Batman caught the chair mid-rotation, turning it back to face him. Although she found it quite odd, it isn't far off to what Vegeta does constantly.

"There's one more piece of information I want to acquire." Batman said in a serious tone.

"And that is?"

"Everything you know about Cell."

* * *

 **Metropolis**

Once everyone was up and at least not critically injured, Martian Manhunter took the stage as leader for the moment.

"Wonder Woman, use your scouter and start tracking down this Cell."

"Right."

Wonder Woman clicked on her scouter to look for the nearest power levels. Although the scouter's locator functionality is broken, they found a loophole in which when the scouters calculate a person's power level they could accidentally pick up a different power level nearby. What they did end up finding though was disappointing. No Cell, just a couple of high power levels from the people around them.

"He's nowhere near us Manhunter, but we should all brace ourselves for his next move."

Martian Manhunter nodded, clicking his blue scouter off. He started to look around the destroyed city once more, this time to guess the bio-android's most likely method of attack. The rest of the band did the same as well, strategizing and hoping that Cell does not blow up the place again. Worse- absorb them.

"There Cell is!" Superboy shouted, his arm poised in the air to reveal the bio-android.

"But… he's blue?" Supergirl replied.

"He must've went through a metamorphous. Trunks was saying something like that." Martian Manhunter added, to figure out what the imperfect being will do next.

Instead of bombing the hell out of them again or even attacking them, the being drop below and into the middle of the gang. At first, everyone was tense by being so close to the villain, but this eased as Cell looked so… docile. They were still weary of his presence of course.

"I was told that I might be mistaken as Cell. No, I am C-19, a whole new being. Do you know who and where is the one called Superman?"

The group became tense once again, taking a bit of their minds off the newcomer and instead trying to figure out just where the real Cell is.

"You," C-19 picked up Superboy by his shirt's collar and yanked him into the air, all seemingly happening with a blank face. "According to my data your DNA matches 100% with Superman's, but you're the one called Superboy. Tell me the whereabouts of him or die."

"Drop the boy down."

Cell leaped from one of the four buildings left standing and dropped down next to C-19. Unlike C-19, Cell's face had expression, so it made it quite easier to tell the two bio-androids apart. That and that one of them is blue while the other is green.

"So you're the one called Cell. You are not objective worthy, but fascinating. Perhaps you could tell me where this so called Superman is."

"The real Superman should be arriving no later than a few minutes now; I can already detect his ki approaching rapidly. Judging by your own ki, he is undoubtedly more powerful than both you and me combined. Help me kill and absorb these fools so that we may be able to kill him."

C-19 dropped the Superman clone down on the ground, but he was not convinced yet that Cell himself is not just another threat.

"What is this ki?"

Cell folded his arms and put his finger on the slit in his beak-like mouth to hide a small laugh. Whatever amateur team of scientists made this weak doppelganger should be ashamed. He seized his laughter and got back to a more serious tone.

"It's a type of energy within all of us. Some beings like myself are capable of expelling this said energy by forcing it out in various ways, the most practical one being as projectiles. Ki users can also sense the ki in other life forms. But enough talk. Help me kill these fools or twiddle your thumbs and wait for Superman to kill you."

While Cell and C-19 chatter on about what would appear to be a frivolous subject to the superheroes, Superboy impatiently waits for his fellow mates to attack. He watched as the people around him stand like statues, patiently spectating the discussion from a distance. Superboy hated it. He hated that even Supergirl, whom he thought harbored the harbored the same feelings on at least this matter, stood there like the rest. This hate, this animosity towards Cell and the newcomer C-19 overtime passed through his very heart.

"Enough! Do you two think that I am going to stand around at watch you-"

C-19 zoomed past everyone else to stop Superboy's chatter by kicking his stomach, taking the breath out of him. He did another kick to send him away from his sight.

"I don't believe you Cell. However, what I do believe is that I am going to kill everyone here, starting with you Cell. Hopefully that will draw Superman's attention."

Everyone surrounding the two bio-androids braced himself or herself for an upcoming attack, but it quickly became obvious that C-19 wanted to start the bloodshed with Cell. Cell braced himself, taking a stance he formulated with the combined knowledge of everyone he had absorbed. C-19 did his own stance, a modified version of one of the combat stances Batman uses.

Time ticked on for ages.

"Die, you impostor!"

Cell flared up his energy and propelled himself so fast that only Wonder Woman was able to detect him, as he teleported behind C-19 to throw a fist at him. C-19 felt the oddly gentle breeze of air that came before Cell's punch and caught the fist, brushing it aside and punched Cell twice. One in the gut, making Cell cough spit, and the next one colliding with his chin and forced him upwards. The so-called 'impostor' met up with Cell's flying body and launched a barrage of fists in Cell's chest before slamming him back down.

Nanoseconds afterwards C-19 did something that was nothing short of unexpected. He beamed Cell with an enlarged form of heat vision that looked as if he was firing two large blasts from his eyes. Once Cell collided with the ground half a kilometer away from the group of super beings, an explosion ensued, sending dust, and debris flying everywhere.

"An interesting attack C-19…" Cell said, emerging from the explosion with some damage and heat marks on his skin. "Heat vision, was it? Superman used it on me once. Its destruction capacity is not quite as good as a strong ki blast, but judging by the two holes it burned on my chest, it's quite hot."

C-19 was not one for such frivolous chatter. He pursued Cell once more, while the other bio-android charged up his ki even further. Once the two neared each other, the sudden closing of two extremely large power levels caused the air to ripple visibly, becoming a visible field of particles encasing the two for just a second. Or as some call it, a shockwave.

This time it was Cell's turn to clench a fist in his hand. And he did, much to C-19's surprise.

"This is pointless, and you know it C-19!"

C-19 threw his other fist at Cell, only to be yet another fruitless effort as Cell caught that too.

"Don't be an idiot like the rest of the people around us. Superman will not grief for my death. Let's kill those superheroes and wait for Superman's arrival, which is very soon if I might add."

After much reluctance, C-19 seized his deadly pursuit against Cell. Cell let go of his hands, and the two faced the superheroes a distance away from them, which the group had decided earlier to wait until one of the two defeated the other before entering the fray.

The two walked back to the group like lions closing in on their prey, pouncing on them in the exact moment when Wonder Woman inhaled. C-19 was the first to strike, jabbing at Superboy's stomach with his fist. His last thought was at how unfair it is for him to be the first one attacked before a kick into the air knocked him out. Martian Manhunter was next; having been communicating with Batman and Bulma before Cell promptly knocked him out by surprise via a massive ki blast. The energy blew him a kilometer away.

Cell took on both Wonder Woman and Supergirl at the same time, while C-19 held off Captain Atom. Unfortunately, for C-19, Atom was far more powerful than he was, as his roundhouse kick kicked him into the ground. With blood draping off the side of his mouth, C-19 screamed a battle cry as he got back up, his normal, docile look replaced with an I'm-going-to-kill-you one. C-19 retaliated by firing his heat vision once more at him, while Captain Atom countered it with his own yellow blast, causing an explosion upon impact.

Meanwhile, Cell was not having the best of luck either. While Cell could have fought rather evenly with Wonder Woman, Supergirl turned the tables even after fighting Parasite, Metallo, and even Cell himself earlier. The two superheroes dished out more hits than Cell could handle, pairing up both their fists to send Cell crashing miles away from them.

While Wonder Woman and Supergirl fly over to the crater Cell produced in his crash, C-19 barely kept up with Atom. Atom was stronger than everyone was here besides the fashionably late Superman. In fact, he even had enough free time to figure out that C-19 successfully lands one fist per every six hits C-19 does. Captain Atom underestimated himself however, as he did a continuous barrage of fists and kicks on C-19, giving him no breathing space. Holding his head, Atom slammed his knee into it, making the orb-like shell on the top of C-19's head to crack, causing him immense pain.

"I have strict orders by the U.S. government to kill Cell." Captain Atom states while C-19 is on his knees, grabbing hold of the purple blood pouring from his mouth like a fountain. "While you may just be a coconspirator or just another creation of whatever lab Cell crawled out of, I'm ending this, and by extension, _you._ "

C-19's mouth gaped open as Atom pooled the majority of his energy into a single, collective ball of yellow energy. But what really awed Luthor's creation was how unclassed he was just out of the box. He already convinced himself that this ki thing must be real, so why did Luthor think he was going to win his battle with Superman, nevertheless this one? It was no matter; all it answered soon with just a mere flick of the wrist. He felt in his thoughts that he will die unfulfilled and meaningless, as with all life when he came to think of it. His demise was even funnier when you add the fact that he does not even know what the hell a Superman _is_. Nevertheless, aside from all that… he only wished that he could have served master Luthor, his creator, better…

 **BOOM**

The following explosion was more powerful than every explosion done since Cell transported into this new universe. It created a crater not wide, but bottomless-like deep. It was close to the point of reaching the core of the Earth.

"This…" Captain Atom scoffed, pointing down at the hole he created. "Was a threat I had to be sent down here for?" Years spent working for the U.S. government had made Atom cocky, as he was able to stop any threat that they throw at him with utter ease. Unlike in other universes where he left the U.S. Army and either worked solo or for the Justice League, Captain Atom decided to stay, making him who he is now: An arrogant prick.

The captain marveled at his recent victory while the two women still worked their asses off fighting Cell, who raised his power to the max to keep up with them. The only thing that kept him from making a fatal mistake was his foreknowledge of both of the superhero's skills down to which punch they'll throw first (all thanks to the amass of Justice League 'super' fans he absorbed).

"Guess we won't even need Superman." Wonder Woman says whilst battling Cell with Supergirl. Both fighters ganged up on the bio-android at the same time once reaching the crater, so now they both gave out as much attacks as possible to wear Cell out. They were oblivious of Cell's infinite stamina when they started, but the more they fought, the more they tried to understand why Cell hasn't so much as breathe more than normal. It was only when Cell lashed at Wonder Woman with a punch in the jaw when the two understood that Cell could not be defeated normally.

The Amazon princess tripped Cell while Supergirl was fighting him, lassoing his leg and thrust him furiously into the air.

"Supergirl! Blast him with your heat vision!"

Supergirl hastily nodded to Wonder Woman's request, her eyes flickering akin to a broken lighter before fully succumbing to the red-hot energy inside of it. She fired, reaching Cell before you could even say the name of the attack she used.

"Don't stop!" Wonder Woman yelled out over the intense explosion with her back turned from it.

Supergirl fired a second time, losing some of the power of the first but was able to fire instantly. She fired again, with the ball of exploding energy expanding. It was so loud that whatever glass not destroyed in Cell's underground blast has surely broke now. She fired again, and again, and again, each one weaker than the first. By doing so, she strained her body to the point where firing another just might kill her. She fell to the ground face forward and ready to take a nap. However, she did not. At this point of uncertainty, it is best to be awake so that you may at least be able to see your death before it happens.

"You did good, but now's not the time to hit the hay." Wonder Woman grabbed Supergirl up by the back of her costume's collar, annoying her. "Come; let's get Superboy and Martian Manhunter." She says whilst still dragging Supergirl around. She no longer even cared, the sensation and sound of the ground crackling beneath her enough to even make her sleep at the moment.

.

.

.

Wonder Woman managed to round up the rest of the superheroes in a circle, picking up a Superboy that muttered incoherent nonsense in his sleep, and hoisting up Martian Manhunter, who was dead silent the entire time. Fearing the worst, the gang prepared themselves for yet another one of Cell's surprise attacks. Martian Manhunter scoped out the area for any life beyond the five of them using his Martian vision. Although his powers normally go haywire when locating Cell, all he has to do this time is to see if he's simply alive, not a location down to the longitude and latitude.

"What happened to C-19 Atom?" Wonder Woman questions with her hands on her hips.

"I killed it."

"What?" Wonder Woman snaps back with anger boiling on her face. She knew he was a villain and one that is not easily contained, but C-19 should have gotten a second chance. Hell, she even knows villains that want to fight for the side of justice now.

"He was a reckless, murderous, menace, with no other reason to live then to just absorb innocent people to become stronger. Allowing him to live is akin to not curing a fatal virus. Eventually, it'll tear an irreversible path on the world until you finally get the judgement call to start the research."

Before Wonder Woman could reply, Martian Manhunter yet again silently pulls the attention of the group to him, as he was 'eager' to explain the results of his search. You can tell from his 'beaming' eyes.

"Cell's alive. Barely… but alive." Martian Manhunter says, still actively trying to locate the bio-android despite the consequences.

"Great, lets pound his sorry ass." Supergirl aggressively replies, lightly pushing up her costume's sleeve. Before she could pounce aimlessly in the pursuit of pounding skulls in, Manhunter stops her leave with his arm.

"I detected him, but he's not anywhere nearby. We are again only able to stand by and wait for his next move." Supergirl's anger flared for a second like a daring kid who pulled the fire alarm, almost brushing the Martian aside so that she could put an end to the madness. Instead of doing that, she let out the anger in a single sigh before sitting down on the dirt.

As if as a chain reaction, the moment Supergirl sat down is the moment Cell blasted off into the middle of the booming sun, creating a shadow that casted over the group of superheroes. But unlike any other moment since Cell first appeared, he looked serious enough to actually want to finish things.

 **"I'M DONE WITH THIS PATHETIC EXCUSE OF A PLANET! I AM DONE BEING THE HUNTED! AND I'M DONE PLAYING AROUND!"**

Cell's entire rant pitched well, but a foolish decision nonetheless. He made the fatal mistake of getting detected by a group of superheroes who could easily defeat him, as well as having countermeasures for most of his techniques like the Kamehameha. Still, he decided to do the borrowed attack anyway, cupping his hands while using every second he had before their inevitable retaliation as charging time. He did not just use his own pool or energy to create the blast; he used the entire Earth as his ocean, a technique that he borrowed from the spirit bomb, which Cell had also stole from Goku.

"If you blast that off Cell, I'll redirect the blast back and it _will_ kill you." Captain Atom loudly declared at Cell, who had ignored it to keep both his concentration and cool. The last thing Cell wanted was to shit his pants and stop charging the energy blast.

"Guys, look over there…" The average person would not be able to see it, but Superboy was referring to outside the destroyed city and into the nearby grasslands, where particles of energy sprouted off the ground to orbit around Cell.

The sky began to blacken for the umpteenth time today, with the ground erupting in an earthquake like fashion, sacrificing chunks of itself in order to save itself from blowing away altogether. Once Cell no longer needed to extrapolate energy from the Earth, the planet shook relaxingly, as if taking a sigh of relief.

 **"THIS IS ENOUGH ENERGY TO OBLITERATE THIS PLANET TEN TIMES OVER! I've had my fun… BUT WHAT GOOD IS THIS PLANET IF THERE ARE NO ANDROIDS!"**

While Cell boasted about his power, he left himself vulnerable in every way imaginable… from the threats below him... to the threats that he cannot see. Hundreds of miles away directly above him was none other than Superman, pissed beyond facial recognition. If Louis were to see him now, she would not be able to tell him apart from the same brutes he defeats daily. The bio-android barely had time to register the enormous power level hurtling at him before Superman punched him in the jaw with enough force to destroy the entire planet. What resulted was a physically caused explosion like no other, taking the appearance of a tsar bomb… dropped several times over. The explosion not only broke Cell's jaw but also absolutely incinerated it to the atomic level… as well as the majority of his body. If Superman was not afraid of killing his friends as well as Cell himself, he could have ended the abomination right then and there. Instead, Cell blasted away by the awesome force of Superman's punch, surrounding him in the shape and color of a ball of fire.

His body flew into the very hole that Captain Atom created when destroying C-19. Physics did its part here by making this hole bigger due to the rapidly applied force of Cell forcibly thrown into the hole. Once he reached the bottom and hit the floor of the cavernous pit below, this 'ball of fire' ignited, creating an explosion that looked like lava bursting out of its hole. This, combined with force applied sun dipped fist was enough to destroy Cell down to well… cells, essentially killing him before he even had the chance to scream for a millisecond in the agony and pain he felt before being destroyed.

All of this happened in under a minute.

Once the deed was done, the two explosions led to a light so bright that even Superman could not see for a second. He is not impervious to light as he is to heat. He cannot see for a bit during sudden radical changes in the lighting like now. Fortunately, for him however, his eyes can adjust quickly to even the biggest changes of light, so he was just in time for the next explosion to erupt and take his vision for a moment. Everyone else (with the exception of Supergirl) just guessed that Cell is a big bluffer.

After several agonizing minutes pass, each of the superheroes were slowly but surely given back their beloved eyesight for god knows how many times. The battleground has changed considerably over those past blinding minutes, with Superman now hovering around the same place Cell was.

"Superman? What happened?" Superboy asked whilst picking himself off the ground.

Superman initially said nothing, until dropping down beside the group and helping up Wonder Woman and Captain Atom at the same time.

"I was tuning in on Bulma and Batman's commentary on the fight and learned about Cell's regenerative abilities. They mentioned about how his regeneration process weakens him, and slows down every time, so I decided to hit him as hard to weaken him. I might have put too much force however…."

Superman stared at the crater Cell burrowed himself into, acting as if he was going to burst out of the hole in every second, but to Superboy he just looks crazy.

And he wasn't far off.

"Superman, you destroyed him down to the cellular level, not bits and pieces. There's very few people that could survive from that, and judging by his strength I don't think he did." Martian Manhunter stated, looking down at the manmade hole with his Martian vision.

Superman could not believe what he was hearing. He expected himself to weep, or even shed just a bit of himself for the fallen villain, but nothing came out of the superhero. In fact, he did not feel anything at all, he felt worse by the fact that he put too much force into that attack then he should have. The very thoughts circling in his head scared Superman. It gets even scarier. The more Superman thought about it, the more he found himself _compromising_ with the murder.

 _It was just a mistake; a little too much force is all._

 ** _NO,_** _that thing deserved it! He has killed too many people! That son of a bitch had it coming!_

 _I DID NOT MEAN IT!_

 _Stop kidding yourself. You enjoyed it._

 _IT WAS JUST_ _ **JUSTICE!**_

 _It was_ _ **murder.**_

"Superman?"

Martian Manhunter looked up once again to see the Earth's greatest hero violently shake his head, looking as if he was ready to bash it open and fry his brain from the inside. His persona name was the only thing that got him out of that imprudent state, as he looked once more at the concerned heads of his comrades; his friends.

Wonder Woman opened her mouth to talk about what she just witnessed, but a unique burst of light from the hole interrupted her.

It was not an explosion of any regular kind. An extremely intense light shot straight out of the whole, a light that could blind sensitive eyes. Light blue in color, the energy was not a type of energy seen in this universe. It was _ki,_ a property existing in only certain universes. That would only mean…

"Surprised to see me?" A being said from within the energy, his voice sounded similar to Cell, but far more muscular sounding. Even his silhouette is a far cry from Cell's slender like structure. The silhouette was slightly shorter than Cell, but bulkier, and had a lack of green wings.

Once the light emitted from the energy started to dim, the creature within the dying energy advanced upon the gang in a rather smooth levitation. One would think Cell would be outright angry with them all and would try to attack the group the moment he got on his feet, but this one is rather… _docile._ He had a stern face, yes, but for the most part he was extremely calm. By the point the light completely faded, a creature very similar looking to Cell now stands next to the band of superheroes.

As previously pointed out, he is a bulkier, masculine looking version of Cell, with the disappearance of his green wings and his beak like mouth. He appeared more human like, with _somewhat_ of a human like mouth. His talon like feet are now familiar looking to wearing black, pointy boots, and his tail now shorter, sporting a new crusty tan look which is also what his feet or better yet the footing of his boot look like. Finally, it is mentionable that he now has a five fingered, human like hand, instead of his irregular three-fingered hand, which mirrored his old three fingered horrendous feet.

Speaking of the creature's hand, its first use was just a moment ago to obliterate Captain Atom to ironically, atoms. Had he seen the red blast coming, he would have absorbed it too easily, but the red ball of energy was too fast for him to have even thought to react. The blast took him a few miles away from the group, where it exploded at a distance too far for the others to be harmed, but at a distance where they could still hear his horrific screams for one last second before he was ripped apart atom by atom.

The being waits patiently for the explosion to evaporate into nothing, calmly looking at the red ball of energy expand hundreds of times larger before lighting off, leaving a spew of dust like a red curtain closing at the end of a theatre.

"Funny. Now where is all that spunk he used to have just a moment ago? Maybe you could hear him say a joke or two under the violent sound of the explosion and the screaming."

"Captain Atom was right! You're an abomination!" Supergirl screamed aloud, ready to bash the creature's skull in until she could only hear the sound of squishing.

"Now there, I'm ready to fight at a moment's notice, but I want us to all have a little chat first. I'm sure some of you want some answers."

Even after that, Supergirl took her emotions in and flew right at the beast. She could no longer bare sitting at the sidelines and leave her fate to change as she did before C-19 and Cell decided to team up. No, she wanted to end the madness right now, starting with a right punch. Instead of punching flesh and bone, she had slung her fist in the air. As a matter a fact, she was not even near the murderous creature, but behind Martian Manhunter's hand like last time.

"No Supergirl. Let's hear the man out." Manhunter says, as Supergirl backed down like a whimpering dog in disguise. In reality, she has not lost a bit of her anger, as it began to build up since the moment Cell decided to blast the two supervillains Parasite and Metallo into nothing. Still, she played along, looking sincere enough to look to the rest of the group that she did not mean it.

"Before you all have any doubts of my identity, I am, and always will be, Cell. Even as mere cells, I can survive and even thrive. C-19 died from Captain Atom's attack earlier, but his remains were still intact. Unlike C-19, I can regenerate, and even more so regenerate from even a single cell. This is why I survived the attack from Superman. During the regeneration process, my cells started to culminate into me, but did so around C-19's bits and pieces. The cells absorbed them completely, and he was fortunately strong for the cells to trigger the next stage of my transformation, my semi-perfect stage, which explains the blue lighting earlier. It's strange, I had always thought that absorbing the androids was the key to achieving my perfection, but no, it was only a shortcut. I can achieve my perfect form just by absorbing the likes of you all, which is exactly what I intend to do now."

Cell raised his hands high, as if about to make a spirit bomb.

"I have found my new purpose! No longer am I to be bound to my weak and powerless stage! I can become invincible!"

Cell finished his egotistical chant and resumed talking to the crowd.

"There's one more thing. From being in that near death stage, I triggered something in my cells called a zenkai boost, increasing my strength further multiple times. Isn't that just great?"

Once Cell noticed no one was cheering for him, Cell's tone became more serious.

"What? Am I being a bit too nice for you people? Some of C-19's cells must be changing my personality. That rip off was excessively docile... But… Just to show you all again that it's really me…"

The others watched in horror as Cell blasted Supergirl with the same red ball he gave to Supergirl. Martian Manhunter only had a split second of time to try to save her by moving her out of the way, but he was too slow. She flew distances away from the group, screaming a bloodcurdling cry all the way as the ball exploded into a giant red dome of fury.

"I never liked that girl anyway. She had less spunk then Captain Atom, but had far more audacity and cockiness."

 **"You…"**

Everyone's eyes fixated at Superman, whose eyes are even more red than red itself. He took a step forward, breaking apart an entire area of Earth with the foot. And that wasn't even the _beginning_ of his power.

 **"MONSTER!"**

* * *

 **A/N:** Things just heated up in here! The epic showdown between Semi-Perfect Cell and a sun dipped (for THREE WEEKS), angry Superman will be everything and anything awesome. Just imagine in your head the epic, earth shattering blows they will be casually throwing around, each one making the posy below Superman wonder if he just might blow up the planet. I am telling you, things are just going to get better and better from this point forward!

I also want to announce that this is the second biggest chapter I have made yet again, at 7163 words (thirteen pages on the default 11 size font on Word 2013 apparently). Why am I not as happy as the last time? Well, I have come to realize that it is probably going to happen every chapter I make. Each chapter is just a product of my improvement by consequently making the chapters in the first place. It's odd, but true. I reckon I'll reach around the 8000's in a few chapters (I already did, but I mean that will be the standard).

I don't know when the next chapter will be, but it will probably be after I start school (August 11), so I dunno... August 15-20th? That's what I'm aiming for.

 **Stuff about the story.**

My basis to why Cell transformed into his Semi-Perfect stage is not as farfetched as it may seem. Many people have speculated that Cell could reach this stage simply by absorbing as much beings as possible. I don't think this is true, but hey, it's something. Cell absorbing C-19's cells to become nearly perfect isn't that bad of an idea either. When Cell self-destructed and started to regenerate, he sub-consciously snatched some dying cells of Goku and was able to learn the instant transmission. Now as I've said before, my Cell is capable of extracting much more out of a person then just mere sustenance and energy, so it's not that bad to have him _also_ attract more than just information when taking a being's cells during regeneration.

Now you may ask, "But JKFallen, there's not enough cells in C-19 to be able to do that!" and I say, "There is."

You have to know that Martian Manhunter wasn't awake to check of C-19 died. C-19 remains were still largely intact until Cell flew in there. That nearly incinerated them. In real life, even after death your cells are still there, though quickly dying. Cell's… cells were still able to extract enough juice from the failed bio-cyborg to be able to transform from the dead leftover energy.

And that's how I meet your semi-perfect Cell.

Also! Instead of making power levels to gauge the level of power the Justice League characters are (or at least the relevant ones), I'll be referencing their levels of powers with the level of DBZ fighters below.

Composed Superman: Slightly stronger than Wonder Woman.

Angry Superman: ?

Sundipped Superman: ?

Angry Sundipped Superman: ?

Wonder Woman: Quite stronger then Android 16, but weaker than Semi-Perfect Cell

Martian Manhunter: About as strong as Android 16.

Supergirl: Weaker than Android 16, but not by much.

Enraged Supergirl: Slightly stronger than Android 16.

Superboy: Weaker than Supergirl, but not by much.

Enraged Superboy: Slightly stronger than regular Supergirl.

Green Lantern (Hal Jordan): Slightly stronger than Android 17.

Flash: Noticeably stronger than Android 17.

'Breaking the limit' Flash (Tapped so much in the speedforce that he might die): ?

Trunks: ? It is hard to gauge one's power level if they're currently training.

Captain Atom: Slightly weaker than composed Superman, but stronger than Wonder Woman.

C-19: Noticeably weaker than Android 16 and Superboy.

Imperfect Cell (Pre-Absorbing People): Noticeably weaker than Android 18.

Imperfect Cell (Post-Absorbing People): As strong as Wonder Woman.

Semi-Perfect Cell: ?

 **Questions? I got answers.**

 **Evinco:** If you think I'll make Superman into some dumb brute, think again. However, Superman has repeatedly allowed his emotions to run free for just even a bit. Have you read Injustice: Gods Among Us? It's written to follow the game of the same name, and it's a GREAT story. And if you haven't noticed, I exploiting the HELL out of Superman's emotions. Just look at what happens to Superman most of the times he appears in the story.

 **Thank you ALL for reading!**


	6. The Red Menace

**DISCLAIMER: I own neither Dragon Ball or DC Comics.**

 **AND ANOTHER DISCLAIMER: I'm terribly sorry for not uploading chapters for a while! 2015 has been a great year for gamers, which means that it was a great year of distractions for me. And after moving to a new house and trying to settle in I've barely had time to write. But now that things are quieting down as a year year is rising, I'm back and better than ever at writing!**

 **So let's get to it!**

* * *

 _Have you seen the force these two unstoppable beings make while fighting? Blows that make the tectonic plates of the Earth shift back and forth while they attempt to outdo one another? Blows so powerful you're sure the Earth will break into two in the next hit? It's quite amusing._

 _These puny Earthlings are getting stronger by the day._

* * *

 **The Watchtower**

Superman and Cell fight at a pace literally inconceivable to everyone around them, clashing against each other in such a forceful way that made Wonder Woman angry that she slacked off on her training. The power of each blow was felt across the world. To those on the opposite end of the planet, it was nothing more than a slight tremor. But at ground zero, the ground shook like an earthquake. Even the orbiting watchtower nearby felt the power of these two super beings. Power that made the patrolling superheroes inside get upright in a ball of confusion and discomfort as they eat lunch.

Inside a small computer lab inside the watchtower, Bulma and Bruce discussed about the mannerisms that makes up Cell. From where his strength draws from to the very resourcefulness of his individual cells. Bulma and Batman have become unlikely friends due to near impossible circumstances of Bulma's arrival. Their discussion was diverted to the battle on the watchtower security feed, which is used to show the Earth below in stunning resolution as long as it's directly below the tower. Luckily for them, the fight between Cell and Superman just happened to be right beneath their feet.

Watching Cell and Superman clash reminded Bulma of the many battles she knew Vegeta fought. His war stories fascinated her to no end back then, but his aloof attitude made the stories far and few in between. It brought the two closer together, with Vegeta even making dark but witty jokes to how the Genocians in planet Nukark tastes like bar soap, or how he and Nappa were almost seduced by the weak yet mysterious Laives in a star system destroyed by these male seeking demons. These are the moments that when she glosses over years in the future makes her wish that she hadn't spent much of her time arguing with Vegeta. But a life with him is just a dream that was never meant to be.

Bulma winced with regret.

"This fight is over." Batman proclaims while studying the battle in the security feed, rubbing his hand over his stubble growth.

"That's quite a bold statement." Bulma replied with a surprised face.

"Why do you think so?"

Batman pointed at the explosive battle on the video footage. While the battle is going at a pace too fast for the human eye to see, just the glimpses of the battle can reveal the fact that Superman is getting way more hits in. So many hits that the battle is actually starting to slow pace, and these glimpses are become more and more prevalent. In fact, you could even see that Cell appeared to have already took more damage than Superman just through the video feed.

"I see what you mean…"

Bulma's attention was taken back to her work on the computer, where a thought occurred to her.

"If he dies, then all of my work is for nothing!"

A comforting hand was placed on her shoulder. Bulma turned to see a face that was practically the opposite. But, then again, this Batman is always like that.

"We won't kill him. You know that. But in fact, we can't. His regenerative cells could be studied to save millions of lives."

"You're right, but this Superman doesn't look very merciful right now."

"What?"

Batman frantically looks at the video feed to see if Bulma is right. Once Superman got into the limelight, Batman clearly saw the evil look in Superman that Bulma was referring to. His eyes were entirely red and beheld the look of the same monster he's fighting. His hands were sullied with Cell's blood. His clothes were shredded from the great burden of taking a portion of Cell's hits. It unfortunately isn't as indestructible as Superman's body. All in all, he looks like a nightmare.

"This isn't good." Batman said, biting his bottom lip.

Superman definitely isn't a person that's as strictly coded as Batman or Wonder Woman, but he does well at keeping his emotion in check. However, if and when he does break out, his power becomes seemingly unstoppable, and his rational thinking and sanity thrown off the window. There's no telling what further damage he might do before putting Cell down.

Batman put his cowl back on and left the room abruptly in a tenacious manner, releasing artificial, yet refreshing gusts of air into the stifling room.

"Wait! …. What are you planning to do?" Bulma shouted against the wind.

"If our geographic position is aligned well enough, I think I can stop this singlehandedly." Batman said with a smirk, adjusting his cape while he walked off into the distance.

But once batman left her field of vision, his face turned almost instantaneously into a serious tone. He glanced back at the still opened computer lab to see Trunks enter.

Over the course of a few weeks, the young boy's strength exceeded his dreams several times over. Not only has his physique became more masculine and mature, but he even mastered his Super Saiyan form. Weeks of strenuous exercise allowed him create a new Super Saiyan state, one that's strength exceeded well beyond both Superman and Cell. Bulma noticed most of these things the moment the boy walked in unannounced. Even when she embraced him, the boy's entire body felt like the temple of a god, much like Wonder Woman.

The shocked look in his mother's face was all Trunks needed to see that she was proud of his work. However, that wasn't nearly the reason why she had that look. No, not even close. But Trunks figured that out a moment too late.

"It's been weeks Trunks! Weeks! We live in the same darn facility and yet you couldn't even so much as bothered as to come to the upper section once in a while? You're starting to act like your father for peace sake! Always acting aloof and training for his retarded agenda!"

"Sorry mom," Trunks awkwardly gasped out, scratching his long, unkempt hair. "But we can talk about this later. I think I can beat Cell singlehandedly."

"Everyone's saying that these days."

But once Bulma realized what Trunks said, her face dramatically changed from angry to deeply concerned, backing away from Trunks. There was a cold gust of wind that seemingly came out of nowhere, and yet captivated the entire mood. It was then that Bulma realized just how dire the situation is. For someone as sheltered as she is from recent events, it takes a while for it to truly reach home.

"You've missed a lot son. Cell managed to survive from just a few scraps of cells, and even progressed to his second form. He killed a few superheroes and got Superman angry enough to dominate Cell's new form. But he might just end up doing more harm than good. His fight is turning Metropolis to rubble."

Trunks processed this with both shock… and oddly enough… determination. The young Saiyan hybrid roughly gauged that his strength far exceeded Cell's first form, so how powerful could this second transformation increased Cell's power? And though Superman may just end up killing Cell before he even arrives, he knows that a powerful person blinded with rage is still just a person blinded with rage, and that in itself is a weakness that Cell can easily exploit. Reveling in the thought of testing his new power, Trunks couldn't help but make a smirk.

"Guess I'll just be doing damage control mom."

* * *

 **Metropolis**

Superman's life has been destroyed. Due to rapid chain of events going on and the constant state of danger and alert, no one else but him truly understands what has already been lost. Central City is destroyed. Metropolis is desolate and ruined beyond repair, no matter how many billions of dollars you throw at a 'reconstruction' to polish the rubble. Many of his friends and loved ones lived in this city. Who knows if all of them made it out alive? And Louis…

These thoughts raced across Superman's head while he beat the ever loving shit out of Cell.

One cranked up punch sent Cell flying at subsonic speeds, smashing against a building miles away, and passing through it as if it were air itself. The amount of pain Cell has endured up to this point is unbearable. His regeneration can only do so much to relive the pain. As he lied in a pit of rubble, a small batch of purplish blood jolted to his mouth and forcibly ejected itself onto the ground. Cell looked at this blood with the same ferocious intensity as he would to Superman. A man who was standing next to him for quite some time.

"Listen to me Cell."

Superman's voice was cold, stark, and emotionless. It intimidated Cell, something that has yet to ever happen. It intimidated him so much that he could only continue to look at his puked out blood.

"Too many people died for no reason than your bloodlust. Everyone wants you dead. I… want you dead. So now is your time to atone for the mistakes you've made before you die."

Against the intimidation and fear, Cell still felt a surge of pure hatred against this Superman. Who does he think he is? Did he honestly want to challenge his almighty power? These emotions bubbled up in his brain to a final breaking point, bursting out in physical manifestation of a mighty roar. Cell yelled with such intensity that even the ground beneath him trembled, and the humans forced out of Metropolis and slapped into nearby cities can feel his terror. Even Superman, despite not physically feeling Cell's cry knew that the stakes just rose up a notch.

The biomechanical creature quickly raised his right hand and blasted Superman at point blank range, surrounding them in a half mile long dome of exploding energy. The rest of Superman's gang was unaffected by this due to being far enough away. Still however, they could see the red dome in the distance and worried for their troubled friend.

But even as the energy raged on, Cell and Superman still battled. It's nearly impossible to see in the red lighting, but amidst the explosion, Cell and Superman threw fists of immeasurable power at one other. Each blow made even the ball of energy surrounding them look like an overgrown gelatin. Energy eerily expanded and contracted at an unpredictable rate.

Suddenly, the red energy simply exploded, discharging all of the condensed energy within. It incinerated everything around it with the exception of the two demi-gods. Two beams of light blasted straight in the air, carrying Cell on its end. It exploded miles away in a fiery eruption of destruction and death, leaving nothing behind.

What's _forward_ however, is an angry bio-mechanical creature flying straight into a dressed up super alien. Physically created lightning blasted in every direction while the two exchanged blows once again. The atmosphere around them gave way to the overpowering aftereffects of their attacks, creating a dome with no air as the outside particles around them. The dome continued to grow even after being more than a mile wide, as it touched down and broke open the ground below them.

The power released was outright immeasurable.

But amidst the explosive environment and the decaying city lied the greatest one-sided battle to have been fought. For every punch Cell dealt there was ten more coming his way with over twice the strength. The scouters were incapable of detecting the amount of strength that either of the two were had, but it was easily to tell who was going to come out of this battle. Supergirl's death gave him the strength he needed to finally put this war between Cell and humanity to rest. To keep his heart beating with fierce determination. To allow himself to become more and more twisted with conflicting emotion and malevolence.

Martian Manhunter knelt beside Supergirl, whom was crumpled up in a crater created by Cell after he "tested" his improved abilities on her. If Cell placed as much force into the blast he did with Captain Atom, she too would've been dead. He slowly placed his hand on her chest.

 _Thump._

Martian Manhunter wasn't one to constantly keep secrets behind those whom he trusts, but he knew one of this caliber was crucial to keep for the survival of the very people he trusts. Had he told Superman that Supergirl was still alive, his rage for her wouldn't be as potent, and he would lose. Still though, Supergirl won't last long in both her condition and the condition of the place that was once called Metropolis.

He looked to his right. The Hall of Justice is now nothing more than a tiled foundation and a plethora of debris. He sighed. He can see a distance away the Daily Planet, a building he personally rarely visited but has a strong recognition across the country. But just like the Hall of Justice, it's reduced to a bundle of toppled over structures. Even the iconic Daily Planet globe-sign is broken into two, glistening in the sunlight despite being covered with dirt. Since no building survived the devastation of today, Manhunter can easily guess that the Cadmus project is done for, and Lex Luthor will need billions of dollars to reconstruct his headquarters (even though he has enough to reconstruct a hundred more).

But this was no time to get lost in some twisted form of nostalgia. He grabbed Supergirl and flew off to a neighboring city that at this point is basically a refugee camp. And when he thought about it, the cities never had more notoriety or population until this event occurred.

* * *

 **Miles Away**

"This is over Cell."

These words bore into Cell's psyches in a way unlike before. Because at this point, even Cell realized that the battle was not in his favor. The stunning revelation was brought into the light by a mere sentence by Superman. And he couldn't bear to think that Superman's superiority goes beyond strength as it does now.

"No! It… I- can't be over."

Cell was on his knees, breathing heavily in preparation of his next beating. It took Superman all of what's left of his morality and sense to not kill Cell on the spot, as his stamina and energy are too far gone to be a challenge. Cell isn't the only one though to suffer the scars of their battle. There are wounds and bruises in nearly every region of Superman's body.

Superman flew down to Cell on the ground. The two damaged creatures glared at each other with devilish intentions, many of those they cannot or won't do. This scene puzzled Superboy and Supergirl, some of the heroes that for the most part only stalled Cell until Superman entered the scene.

"Wonder Woman, think Superman's about to do something he'll regret." Superboy said, clenching his fists.

If there's anyone who wanted to kill Cell more than Superman, it's Superboy. Supergirl was practically her sister. And even though he knew that she was alive through Martian Manhunter, ripping out the bio-android's guts and laying it before the beast isn't something that's beneath him at the moment. Better still, he could tell that Cell was too far gone to pose a challenge to him. But Superman's teachings resonate in Superboy in a way that he didn't think possible years ago. Superman's code and honor is something that he aspires to everyday, even at such a perilous time like this. This is why he wouldn't kill Cell… at least for now. The last thing Superboy wants is to breed another villain for the Justice League to stop.

Wonder Woman looked at the young hero with empathetic understanding. She too wants Cell dead, but the costs in the aftermath is far too demanding. It reminds her of the universe they had went to only a few years ago, where Superman killed the Joker and started a regime based on his overflowing hatred and anger. She doesn't want to fight another Superman.

"I'll go talk to him."

Wonder Woman flew over to Superman. Superman jerked his head over to Wonder Woman in a lightning quick motion, startling the Amazon. Even as she approached, she could see the rage imbued in the eyes of the strongest hero on Earth. The only time she has ever seen such burning compassion in him is when he's with Louis. It was just too much hate for an ordinary person to handle without becoming something like the Joker.

"Superman." Wonder Woman said. It garnered no response.

"Kal-El."

Superman's body twitched slightly, but remained locked in place by overpowering anger.

"You can fight this Kal-El."

The man of steel started to do just that. With every mental and physical fiber of his body, the superhero battled his inner thoughts of bestowing death and destruction to this monster before him. His body jerked rapidly, his battle becoming more physical at every second. Cell simply looked at Superman with both confusion and fear that he would kill him if he so much as flinched. A cowardly move that he believes would never happen if he was perfect, not semi. But even though he knew nothing about what happened, he knew that the hatred in Superman's eyes were only getting redder.

"If you do this, if you go through this, then you'll never be the good man you strive to be."

There was a brief pause after she said this comment. His body stop tingling with emotion, and his eyes almost completely went back to normal. But alas, it was only a pause. And this time, the anger was resolute.

"Then I'm not… good…"

The fight in his mind was almost over. Blackening hate radiated over him, his mental ascension to evil nearly complete. The red in his eyes expanded to create heat vision powerful enough to incinerate the evil in front of him. Semi-Perfect Cell was frightened out of his mind at the display of death and destruction in front of him, but refrained from revealing such fear to at least keep his pride at the end of this. It's a Vegeta thing.

The energy in his eyes condensed to a piercing red glow, charging to an overflowing-

"CELL!"

Everyone looked towards to sky to see Trunks form a diamond with his hands.

 **"BURNING ATTACK!"**

A furious ball of energy slung itself over to where Cell is, exploding on his chest. Dust completely swept across the area, covering the three below Trunks in dirt and debris.

"AAAAACH!" An anonymous, bloodcurdling scream blew against the sweeping dust.

Trunks dropped just outside the dust cloud he created. Superboy, the only other full Justice League member left besides Wonder Woman, rushed over to him to get some answers.

"Trunks! what just happened?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Trunks began, shrugging a bit. "but it seemed that Cell was about to kill Superman. There was this red glow in his eyes that looked like an energy attack."

The two looked into the cloud with a flurry of mixed emotions, the bulk of it being confusion. The dust slowly settled to see Wonder Woman clutching the body of Superman, and Cell to be non-existent.

Tears ran down the cheeks of the Amazon as she looked at her unconscious ally. No, her _friend_.

"Superboy, get some help!" She cried, using her might to not hurt the man of steel but to hold him even tighter.

Although no one could see why she was so distressed at first, she eventually turned his body for everyone to see. His entire right arm and a quarter of his chest was deprived of muscle or fluid.

But before they could even react to what they just saw, the lighting of the sky dimmed to a blood red. The clouds dispersed quickly in a way that looks like it's giving room for something. And whatever that something is, it's definitely not harmless.

"Guys I think we should get the hell out of here!" Trunks said with his head to the skies.

"But what about Cell?" Superboy asked for all the wrong reasons.

"If he hasn't escaped already he'll just regenerate from the ashes. Now let's go!"

"But- "

"Look Superboy, red, booming lights in the sky isn't Cell coming for revenge, it's probably a nuclear detonation. When the Cell of my timeline showed up they did the exact same thing. Now. Lets. GO!"

Once Superboy quieted down to submission, Trunks looked down at Wonder Woman, who although was distressed about Superman's state understood the severity of the situation and picked herself and Superman up to feet.

One by one, the members of the party hunting Cell down flew out of a destroyed Metropolis, flying away to somewhere that isn't looking like imminent death. They flew a good distance from the city in as fast as their powers could take them. It took a minute, but eventually they all could see just what was really making Metropolis look like a literal hell. A giant ball of red energy flew down to exactly where they used to be, ripping the atoms from the very ground they fought on.

An impossibly large mushroom cloud boomed around the area, causing four to be blasted away by the power.

* * *

 **A/N:** Great chapter guys! I know I already said this before, but things are truly starting to get much more serious. Now that Cell knows of another way to reach perfection, he absorbed some of Superman's energy to get him a little head start. And with most of the strongest League members incapacitated from their recent encounters with Cell, who is to stop him from reaching perfection?

 **Guest (Chapter 5):** Though you might be right that the Justice League members wouldn't stand a chance against someone like Freeza, it all depends on which comic or animated version of the heroes you're looking at. Pre and Post Crisis Justice League members could give a lot of Z Fighters a run for their money, but something like the Justice League animated series would get whopped by people like freaking _Nappa._ But this story has a completely different set of power levels for the Justice League characters. Check the last chapter to see them.

 **Manjustattva (Chapter 4 & 5): **Glad to know I'm doing better at this writing thing! Thanks!

 **Guest (Chapter 5):** Wow, you really sound like the Dragon Ball Z narrator in my head. But not everything you think of will turn out that way.

 **Guest (Chapter 5):** I hope you had I good summer yourself! Sorry that I slacked off so hard, you know, stuff.

 **Cloud Ex-SOLDIER (Chapter 5):** Oh I'm still on it. In fact, you're on it too now.

This time, I **PROMISE** that you can expect the next chapter during January or early February. I'm tiring of never committing to anything, always leaving things for the next time or day. This is something I want to work on this year. But beyond that, have a great 2016 guys!


	7. Winchester Burns

**DISCLAIMER: I own neither Dragon Ball or DC Comics.**

 **AND ANOTHER DISCLAIMER: You already know. I said I was going to make a chapter in February, but here I am in late March. I got no excuses. But I'm NOT abandoning this story. Not until it's finished.**

 **Let's get to it.**

* * *

 **3 Days Later**

 **Winnistead Iowa.** A place where old western pride and new age technology clash to a rather peculiar town. Although a small group of people left when the Cell threat became public, many stayed to see their city either prosper or burn.

The town boasted such a magnificent park that the city was practically created around it. Kids, many of whom have no class due to nearby Cell sightings, frolic on its majestic grass; just the right amount of height. The elder adults in the area play chess from time to time, discussing current events such as the Cell threat, as well as their own explanations for why the government has not taking a formal stand on how to handle with the biomechanical creature.

"Why, if they don't make a stand, I will! Take my double barrel here and wipe his smug face clean off." An aging man beseeched, carelessly putting his queen in a vulnerable spot.

"Nah Tom, I don't think that's gonna cut it." Eric positioned his bishop to butt kick the queen out of its square.

"The hell Eric!"

"You had her out in the open," He explained, fixing his glasses.

One particular elder, Jonathan Menningham, sat on one of the park benches. He sat and watched the children and his fellow elderly play. A man took notice of him and started to walk towards him. Once Jonathan realized who he was, his face lit up.

"Jimmy! Remember me?"

"Uncle John?"

The two embraced warmly. John happily tapped the space next to him on the bench, which Jim sat on.

"Why are you in Winnistead uncle?"

"Y'know, just admiring the view."

The two chuckled in union. They have the same nasally laugh that gathers the attention of people around them.

"Just kidding with ya, I'm just visiting to visit you and your parents. How are they?"

"Fine. A little cranky for having to pay for a bit of tuition, but fine."

"Your brother?"

"He calls often from Texas. His boy's turning 2 in a few weeks."

"And how about you Jim? Still on that job?"

Jim brushed his hand over his sleeve. A part of his blue spandex underneath showed.

"Yeah. The county's still paying me a good salary too. Just don't... try and talk me out of it."

"I won't, but it's dangerous these days with that creature running around."

"I'm strong uncle, stronger than everyone. They need my strength now more than ever."

"That's just comparative to the rest of us. You can't beat him on your own."

"Your underestimating me again uncle!"

A beeping noise reverberated through his clothes. Jim mouthed out to hold on for a minute, to which Jonathan nodded. The young man jogged through a few kids playing catch to sit on a bench alone. When he was sure no one was looking, he pulled his sleeve completely back, pressing a button imbedded in his sleeve.

"Manhunter here, do you copy?"

"Loud and clear." Jimmy whispered.

"Just a reminder for all Iowa Justice League members. Be on the alert for Cell. Although there hasn't been a recent attack, it's still possible that- "

He pressed the button again to abruptly end the repeating message.

There's another problem with Winnistead. They're prideful, too prideful. It is rare for a person living in Winnistead to even consider the Cell threat. The wiser ones have already left, with the brave amongst them trying desperately to spread the truth: If Cell comes, this town stands _no_ chance.

Winnistead is surrounded by tall grassy hills and mountains. It is there, hidden well within the thick forests that Cell lied in wait. He nearly salivated at the thought of pouncing on the unsuspecting town, but ever since his last fight he has to calculate much more than how many people he can absorb before Superman arrives.

Looking to his right where the road into and out of the city stretches forth, he can detect some faint power levels in the very far distance, which is terrible since he shouldn't be able to detect any power levels at that distance. Even within the city he could feel a distinct yet miniscule power level. To his west fortunately though was nothing, just more hills and mountains.

Before Cell could start his advance though, there was another thing bothering him. If he was capable of transforming to his Semi-Perfect form just by absorbing C-19, then perhaps enough people could trigger his final transformation? A couple of superheroes perhaps?

Cell raised his hands, feeling the new power that Superman gave him days earlier. When he was absorbing him, he _knew_ that he was getting closer and closer to becoming perfect. Superman was the first person he absorbed to ever give him that much raw power. In fact, Cell was sure that that red caped hero could easily defeat the late Goku. But then again, so can he now.

"Ah, enough of this pondering." Cell spoke aloud, raising himself into the sky. He could see some of the bystanders start to take notice of his arrival. He smiled at this frightened entourage.

Phones started to blare with sighting alerts. Parents snatch their kids from the park in fear. Jim's Justice League transmitter rang once more because of the obvious. Johnathan looked behind the park bench to see what's what. The two elderly men in the park finish their chess game abruptly to see the demon they were just talking about.

"Tom?"

"Yeah?"

"Load up that shotgun of yers."

* * *

 **Unknown**

Imagine an aerial plane surrounded by and is nothing, just white nothingness stretching forever. It's nearly indescribable, purely because there's nothing to describe. Trunks was naked. His muscles ached beyond what he thought possible. His body floated across the plane, slowly drifting and yet looking as if he never went anywhere at all. It was surreal to say the least.

A person- no, a being appeared in front of him. He was blurred beyond recognition, and floated like Trunks did. He gave Trunks his hand, which the boy was still barely beginning to process what's happening. Hesitantly, Trunks stretched his arm towards it. His arm felt more relaxed every inch it moved. The being in front of him gave out an aura that felt so pleasant, so welcoming that he wouldn't move his arm even if he could. Their hands locked with each other, but there was no feeling to it.

The being contorted a smile where his face was, which felt completely out of place. The being quickly became less and less welcoming and an anxiety triggered in the Saiyan. The smile started to become a piercing face of anger, and the hand started to actually feel like it was squeezing his own. Trunks yelled, but no sound escaped his lips. The pain began to overwhelm him, restricting the movement of his body.

But amidst the pain and agony he felt, he remembered one thing.

Cell.

Trunks woke up bursting through bed sheets. He didn't care if doing it will kill him. He screamed to the restricted capacity of his lungs, sounding much like a crying wail than an angry teenager. He cursed over and over, trying to put Cell's name in the end of his animalistic threats but his ailments gave him a lisp.

"Damn…Cell!" He yelled, using what little strength he had to flail his arms about in his bed.

The lady rushed back to his aid, this time looking more familiar but his head could barely think at the moment. She pushed his arms back as well as his body, but the future warrior wouldn't dare let that happen. It was only when she slapped him that he came back to his senses.

"M-mother?" He said with a fading lisp, still fighting with her but he couldn't quite remember why.

"It's me! It's me son. Now calm down."

He seized his struggle, but the thought still lingered.

"Mother. Listen to me. Cell- "

"Caused a lot a damage, I know. And if I'm not mistaken, he killed an ex member of the Justice League."

"Supergirl…"

"Oh no not her, she's actually right next to you."

Trunks awkwardly turned his head towards the blond superheroine. She's definitely more banged up then the rest, but he knew she will recover. Her own steady calmness assured it.

"You know, you guys been out for three weeks."

"The hell? Why were we out for so long? And how did we get here?" Trunks croaked in a raspy voice.

"After the explosion, they sent some kind of evacuation team to grab you guys. All of you guys were in extremely critical condition. You guys really acted smart by trying to escape the core of the blast zone. It wasn't the blast itself that damaged you, but the concentrated radiation. They forced you into sleep so that they can operate on removing the radiation."

"What if we stayed in the blast zone?"

"You don't want to know, nor do I want to tell you."

A quick, painful flex of muscle showed his strength improved massively from his recovery. Saiyan biology at its finest. He trashed in the covers once more and separated himself from them, getting on his feet for the first time in weeks. It was disorientating to say the least.

"I would tell you to get some rest, but the Justice League needs the strong arms."

"Is that your attempt at parenting?" Trunks smirked.

"I know we hardly get to see each other these days, and I'm sorry for that. This isn't the end. We'll talk later son."

The doors automatically opened for Martian Manhunter, who carried a terrified expression and a scouter in his hand.

"We're going to need Superman up immediately."

"Why?" Trunks and Bulma questioned in union.

Manhunter placed the scouter on the main emergency bay desk, pressing one its buttons as he stepped aside. The scouter began to turn and spur its processing cores as sound began to play.

"Electro-Man, requesting immediate assistance against Cell! He's here! He's in Winchester Iowa!"

The audio quickly drowned out by the sound of a grenade going off. Dust and debris that blew over kept his voice from being heard.

"The police are barely holding out!"

"Move in!"

"Go go go!"

Boots clanked on concrete in the distance. For a few seconds, there was only silence.

"Oh god!"

The audio transmission ended there. Once Martian Manhunter went to pick up his scouter, he noticed how enticed Trunks looked almost excited.

"I guess I'll be heading there then. Haven't had a proper fight in a while." Trunks briskly flailed his arms and legs about, springing them to life.

"You're not going alone Trunks."

The three looked to see Superman already on his feet. Though his arm is noticeably smaller than the other, he still had a little over half his strength. He took a few steps towards the hybrid Saiyan before stumbling down.

"You don't need to do this. Trunks is the only one able to- "

" **The only one?"**

The rage seeped across his mind violently. His eyes became bloodshot red, as if he was going to blast the Martian with a heat beam. He wanted to beat- no, _kill_ Manhunter for spouting such heresy. And he would have he didn't have at least his common sense left.

Martian Manhunter lent his hand to Superman to help him up, but the passive-aggressive hero pushed him aside. He got up on his own, albeit stumbling on his first try.

"Even if Supergirl is still alive, I need to be the one to… "

He chose his words carefully.

" _defeat_ him. His morale will be crushed, and then the world decides what to do with him. Right?"

Manhunter raised his eyebrows in skepticism. With hesitation, he nodded in agreement.

"Alright then. Your costume and gear is in your chambers. To ensure the mission's success, you must bring Trunks with you."

"Fine."

The future warrior frowned. Even though the caped hero just got out of recovery (albeit not having fully recovered), he never thought Superman would be so uninspiring. The man sounded like a man without time, not a hero who acted larger than life. It's contradictory to everything Trunks was told about him.

As Superman walked out of the recovery bay, Trunks tagged along with him until his mom pulled him back.

"I've seen those eyes in your father's." Bulma whispered.

"Don't let him fulfill whatever murderous fetishes he has with Cell."

"What? So we just let him live?"

"No, you can kill him, but not Superman. Now come on, I gotta show you where I put your clothes."

* * *

 **Winchester**

Winchester burns. A fire that was caused indirectly from one of Cell's energy blasts ravaged the city. The people were divided and evacuated in the four basic directions of the village. In the heart of the town, Cell played with his toys.

Buried under a pile of rubble, a hero lied in defeat. A sky that bled red towered above him, fumed with the smoke of burning buildings. He tensed his muscles up one by one, testing the playing ground to see if the rubble that fell didn't break anything. To his dismay, his legs were practically crushed to the point of not feeling them anymore. He's trapped in his own tomb made of building rubble.

With limited head room, he desperately scoped the area for any sign of life that's not a green monster. The only thing around that even resembled life were the many uniforms of police and national guard littered across the ground. They were the braves ones in this fight, despite cheering him on in the very rare moments he attacked Cell when his back was turned. He wouldn't be alive if it weren't for their sacrifices.

" _Dammit, I'm so much talk and no action. Why did I even bother?"_ He thought.

While the hero silently mourned for the lives lost, he noticed two superheroes flying in the distance. It was when he focused on them when he realized it was Geo-Force and Adam Strange. Sure, they're not a Superman or Batman, but at least they're someone.

"HEY! OVER HERE!"

The two continued to fly away, not even acknowledging him. Communicating via scouter isn't possible either, as his is probably buried under the rubble or destroyed.

"HEY! I NEED SOME HELP!"

He opened his mouth to shout once more, but he knew it was going to be useless. When he focused on them again however, he noticed something odd about them. The color was completely drained from their faces. They looked scared shitless, not that Electro-Man could blame them. But judging by their faces, they look like they are fleeing.

" _Cowards. At least I did something to help."_

His mind wasn't completely convinced though. He didn't notice it at first, but there was an annoying looking dot in the sky. Every second he looked at it, it became clearer and bigger.

" _No, that's not possible…"_

The dot slowly took humanoid shape, bearing a green color as it got even larger.

" _It can't be…"_

It was impossible to mistake the object as anything else. Strange and Geo-Force sped up even faster, both of them constantly looking back to see just how close death was. It was too close.

Cell was in striking distance now. In an energy flurry, he flashed his ki around, causing the two heroes to be blown away by the force. Cell pierced Adam Strange with his tail, a bloodcurdling scream spewed out in result, his contents next. Geo-Force crashed into the ground next to Electro-Man, the latter of which watched in horror as he saw just what Cell does to his victims. Whenever Cell did it before, he couldn't bear to watch it. But here it is, in all its unholy glory.

His clothes and gadgets fell onto the ground in a thud. Strange, a superhero who saved countless lives in both Earth and planet Rann, was no more.

Since Geo-Force landed, he has been staring at Electro-Man the entire time. He didn't even turn to see Cell start to fly towards him. In fact, he hasn't made a single movement since he crash landed.

"Get up!" The disabled hero shrieked, but Geo-Force did nothing, not even look to look at the intimidating creature behind him. Once Geo-Force saw Cell approach, he sunk himself deeper into the pile of debris surrounding him.

" _As much as I want to save you, you're as good as dead."_

Cell grabbed the superhero by the neck, which bent the moment he tried to.

" _My god! He's actually dead?"_

"Guess I used too much power on this one." Cell stated, immediately dismissing the thought afterward to focus on the meal at hand.

Cell did as he has done thousands of times, stabbing the "great" hero in the chest. He was gone in half a second.

Instead of flying off as he usually does to find more prey, Cell decided to stalk around the area. His hulking mass shifted left to right, looking around the mess he's created.

"Another ruined city, and an ignorant one at that. There might have been a chance if they just took me seriously."

Cell stood in silence for a while. He stepped forward several times before walking to a pile of debris.

"Let me tell you something Electro-Man."

All of the color drained form Electro-Man.

"Despite what you might think, you are pathetic and a cowardice excuse for a hero. This can change, however. Fight me honorably today and you'll die a true hero. Either way though, you're going to die."

Electro-Man sat there in silence. He has been Electro-Man since he was a junior in high school. In those years, he only had one challenge, Pryneritho. The 2nd only villain to ever live with Winnistead had a clear master degree in pyromancy, they battled it out in the park. Pryneritho was clearly the better fighter, so Electro-Man did what he did best and ran before he was burned to death. Pryneritho killed 3 people before being shot dead by the police. Those 3 people stayed in his conscious ever since then.

Electro-Man sat there for a few seconds before sighing. He blasted the rubble around him, leaving him exposed to Cell and whatever he plans to do to him. He wasn't going to let him have him though. He stood at his proper combat style, the _Pseudo-Static-Warrior_ stance. Whatever that means.

"I'm Electro-Man of the Justice League. I know now not be the strongest, but I will still fight to the death for the citizens of Winnistead and my family!"

Cell interrupted this display and grandeur to laugh uncontrollably.

"Citizens? What citizens? They're all dead!"

While Cell continued to laugh, Electro-Man looked around the city to see just how damaged the town truly was. Inside the rubble, the city looked like it had hope, primarily because he couldn't see the entire city from where he was. It looks like a hellhole now. It's now that he understood why those two superheroes were running away. It wasn't because they were cowards, it was because there was no one left to save. There are no more emergency evacuation sites, or even people. Just piles and piles of clothes.

"Oh god."

Electro-Man turned to Cell.

Cell said nothing. Electro-Man charged the deadliest electricity buildup he could, one that sapped Winchester's electricity supply dry. If it were night, no lights would turn on. Even from the ground below him, electricity seeped from the sewers below to give him more strength. Purplish strains stretched across his muscles and face. Any more at this point would cause his body to explode violently.

" **I'm going to kill you for what you've done, you damn monster."**

Electro-Man threw millions upon millions of voltage at Cell. A dome of static electricity surrounded the two, striking Cell hundreds of thousands of times every picosecond. The energy caused by the static overloaded, blowing Electro-Man away. When the lightning storm seized, Electro-Man fell to his knees and gasped for air. Cell was still alive and unscathed, but Electro-Man didn't care anymore. He didn't care about anything anymore.

Putting so much electricity into his body made permanent black scars of exploded blood vessels. One in particular went across his left eye.

"Just as I thought," Cell began, dusting himself off a bit. "so utterly weak it's laughable. But at least you can die a hero."

Electro-Man got up and stood nearby the hulking monster.

"You're far more powerful than I can imagine Cell. Up until this point, I was too prideful to admit that I'm just a spectacle in a sea of stronger heroes. Honorable heroes."

Electro-Man raised his arms up high.

"Just kill me now. I know that you can absorb information, so please spare my parents and uncle."

"Eh, I'll think about it."

Cell walked over to Electro-Man with his tail raised high. When Cell reached the hero, he raised it even higher. After a while, he dropped it altogether.

"Guess I'll have to save you for later."

"Wait what?"

Cell blinked his eye. An air wave blew Electro-Man over to a nearby building, creating another pile of rubble atop of him.

Cell redirected his attention to a teenager with golden hair, hovering above him.

"Why is it dear Trunks! I barely had the chance to talk to you the last time I saw you. You've even gotten a lot stronger these past weeks."

"You talk as if we're friends Cell." Trunks replied, bringing his feet to the ground.

"Far from it. Take it as light conversation."

Trunks walked to Cell until they were close enough to lightly feel each other's breaths.

"Hey you," Trunks pointed to Electro-Man, who was cowering behind a dumpster can. He desperately wanted to see how the battle will pan out, even if he was no where near their power.

"Get out of here. It's not safe."

Although Electro-Man ran farther away, there was no way he was going to miss this. Trunks placed his attention back to Cell.

" _He's not Superman, but he certainly is something."_

" _I'm gonna wreck the shit out of this bug."_

And then they were gone. At least that's what Electro-Man thought when he looked at them through the rubble. Since he couldn't detect power levels or see fast enough, he couldn't see the massive battle happening above him. He was unable to look at the two super beings go blow to blow across the Winchester town.

* * *

 **Texas**

Some billionaires like to horde their money. They keep it for little other reason than psychological attachment and status. Others like to use their money for good. People like Bruce Wayne are creating a better future for Americans with their too-big-to-fail mega corporations. And then there's this minority. Not a big issue (fortunately), but it doesn't make it any worse. There are billionaires out there who use their money to do bad things. They make things that hurt people. And when they're done, their money is a cushion for whatever the justice system throws at them. Everyone wants a piece of his money, which is why he can get away with so many things.

Lex Luthor was outside in one of his reclusive houses in Texas. He laid on a hammock with his wine balanced on his stomach. In his mind, it was only a matter of time before the Cell is killed. C-19 was a bust, sure, but his death reminded Luthor that his job was to hasten the inevitable.

"The waiting game sure is fun…" Lex said aloud, even though he felt the exact opposite. He was bored beyond reason.

Before he could take another sip of wine, a shadow loomed overhead.

" _Dark already? I'm getting a little too tipsy…"_

It took the "eccentric" billionaire a while to figure it out. That shadow wasn't the sun. That was Batman.

"Oh, it's the dark bitch. I'd ask how you get here, but getting past strong security isn't exactly new. So what do you want?"

"It must've been easy for you," Batman began, taking the wine off Luthor's stomach and onto the floor. "to just sit here and let thousands die while you wait for the all clear."

"It's what billionaires do Bruce, try it sometime."

"I can babble on about how deplorable of a human you are, but right now I need your help. The world does."

"Just so you know, I'm intrigued only because I'm bored. What the problem?"

Batman dug into his utility belt and brought out folded pieces of construction paper. He extended each of them out on the floor. Some were sketches of Cell and his supposed anatomy structure. Others had specific facts about Cell no one knew until now. Luthor was impressed, and his smile on his face confirmed that.

"All this information would've been useful when I was making C-19. But… I'll accept it."

Lex tried to grab to papers, but Batman pushed them aside before he can reach it. Lex landed face first on the ground.

"With these papers, you're going to create me biomechanical fighter stronger than C-19. And I'll be the only one able to control it."

Lex Luthor was ready to burst into laughter when he heard that, but he contained it to giggles.

"You? Control creations _my_ research and develop team makes? Hell no!"

"I'm giving you the schematics to create beings that can destroy planets casually. With this, you can make a hundred C-19s. Take the offer."

Luthor looked at Batman with a skeptical vision. He got up and stood next to him.

"That sounds too good to be true. How do I know what you're saying is true?"

"You're the least of the world's problems Luthor. The Justice League can handle whatever you throw, but not Cell. Let's take our world back."

Luthor stared at Batman for the longest of time. With hesitation, he shook Batman's stretched out hand.

"Deal."

* * *

So this chapter was a little bit... _interesting._ We're introduced to a new character named Electro-Man, and a rocky alliance between Luthor and Batman. What will become of both I can't say. But what I can say is that I'm trying to expand this universe I've created. The next few chapters is going to be what defines this fanfiction's end game. Not that the end game is coming soon, but what's going to happen.

 **Neo-Devil (Chapter 6):** I can't say.

 **Guest (Chapter 6):** If you consider Semi-Perfect Cell to be weak, then yes, this is a much weaker Superman.

 **Several Guests:** Stop with your power level ranks! I already have my own ranking system, thank you. They all are wrong.

I'm pulling no promises, but I'm shooting for an April-May release for the next chapter. Please don't kill me if I miss.

 **Oh, and I'm going to edit all of the chapters silently (and slowly) for grammer mistakes and consistency. Have a good one guys!**


	8. The Hunt

**DISCLAIMER:** I own neither Dragon Ball or DC Comics.

* * *

The force beyond continues to watch the spectacle on Earth. Little by little, the cracks around its barrier continue to enlarge. Through these cracks, his influence has already made small changes in the universe. He was even able to occupy certain individuals' dreams for a short he will be able to do much more than just harmless distractions. Soon he will be able to do what he came to this universe to do.

He smiled.

* * *

Lex Luthor's Texas mansion was much larger than it appeared to be. To the typical onlooker, it's pretty much one of the billionaire's many "getaway" mansions. A latch hidden in his backyard, however, revealed a small scale laboratory, equipped with most of the material and equipment needed to create more artificial fighters. It serves as a way to continue research and technology if one of his main labs happened to stop existing. Which is exactly what happened during Cell's metropolis raid.

Luthor guided Batman to the far end corner of the facility, but he was far too occupied on surveying the room.

"So this is the laboratory you used to create C-19."

"Actually," Luthor sighed. "I was a little too giddy and had C-19 destroy that one. This is my back up back up."

Batman looked to his left to see two scientists analyzing a blueprint. Upon further fixation, he noticed that the blueprint looked like Cell's second form next to a gray, hulk-like monster, with shards all across its body. He wanted to know more, but Luthor gave him a shoulder.

Batman turned around to see a large tank with light green fluid inside. A being that looked identical to C-19 floated inside of it.

"Let me guess, backup?"

"You tell me, detective."

"How does it even stand a chance?"

"Why don't you look instead of babble, detective."

The billionaire brought the other to a terminal next to the tank. He clicked a few buttons which brought up a screen filled with a plethora of text.

"C-19 was weaker than Cell because he lacked his entire genome map. We had to improvise by using some of your Justice League's DNA. Your schematics can change everything!"

Luthor walked closer to Batman with his arm inching towards the blueprints. Once he realized what was happening, Batman brought his arm back.

"You sound a lot more eager Luthor."

"I said yes earlier, didn't I?"

Batman slowly brought his hand back and handed the schematics, which Luthor almost instantly snatched away. He unfolded the paper and began to punch of text into the terminal.

"Which reminds me Bats," Luthor said while still typing in code.

"There was a red explosion right before Cell escaped Metropolis. Was that you?"

Batman stopped ogling at the technological marvels to look down on himself. He remembered the moments before he launched the red beam, where he was calculating over and over again the likelihood of someone dying in that explosion. There hasn't been a day since he doesn't redo the math.

But beyond that aching feeling in his heart, he found it a lot easier than he thought it would be. He even felt a bit relieved after doing it.

"People could've died Batman. I thought you don't do that type of thing."

"How long is this going to take?" Batman changed the subject.

"Five minutes tops. The fluid inside the tank changes his genome instantaneously. He can reach Superman in another five."

"Hurry, you know lives are at stake."

"And accidentally mess up the process?" Luthor said while grabbing the attention of a nearby researcher. "Come on Batman, he might not look tough, but there's no way I'm rushing C-20."

* * *

The fires that had started during the beginning of Cell's onslaught has burned its way across the town. Radiating heat changed the surrounding atmosphere to a blood red. The only parts spared from the fire were the old evacuation points, but even they will eventually be consumed. Winchester may be lost, but the battle within isn't.

Trunks kicked Cell down and threw a potshot blast. It promptly exploded to dust once it made contact, adding more damage while he crash landed. Trunks brought his hands together and formed an even more potent energy attack, but decided not to. The risk of that Electro guy dying once the entire block gets leveled is too high for his tastes. He dropped next to Cell's dusty crater instead.

"Get up Cell."

Trunks kept his hands at the ready once Cell decides to pounce. Lo and behold, a silhouette appeared from the thick fumes with a fist jabbing through. Cell burst through the smoke and launched a punch towards the future warrior. Trunks dodged it and punched Cell twice. Cell continued to stand there stunned while Trunks brought himself a couple of paces back in case.

"Your punches Trunks…" Cell began, mustering up a chuckle. "If this is your full power, you should've waited for Superman."

"You're just playing games with me Cell…" Trunks said with his guard ever so slightly weakened.

Cell delved into hysterical laughter. Trunks tried to keep himself steady, to shut it out mentally, but it was no use. He took a few steps forward.

"You're a liar! You don't scare me!"

Cell continued to laugh even longer until he actually considered what Trunks said. He brought himself to composure and grinned.

"You don't believe me? Check that scouter of yours."

The boy did just that. He clicked his scouter twice to begin the process. The numbers rapidly climbed from the thousands to the millions. It quickly dwarfed his own at the time in seconds. Cell's grin got wider.

"I guess somethings just don't change. No matter what universe you're in, you are always a fool."

Trunks charged his strength as fast as he could, but he wouldn't even make it to half his full power. He looked at the corner of his eye to see Cell land a fist on his face. The scouter violently exploded while Trunks was blown into the entrance of a burning building. The fiery building collapsed, its weakened foundation shattered once Trunks made contact. Cell propelled a blast at the ruined structure. The Saiyan threw himself out of the building and into the sky in time to see Cell pounce unexpectedly on him again. The android repeatedly punched and kicked him midair without a chance for breath. One kick took the air out of him while the other sent him down to the same crater he made for Cell.

Cell flew down and picked Trunks up amidst the blowing dust and smoke.

"Take a gander, Saiyan. This is my full power."

Trunks stared at his attacker confused and dazed, which made his assailant grin even wider. An unstoppable wave of fists and kicks jolted Trunks awake.

Electro-Man watched the beating from the side of a house. Each devilish laugh and screech of pain made him cringe a little. Each blow was so impactful that he could hear them from the other end of the block.

 _I deserve to watch this. It's what I get for not dying like the rest._

The superhero frowned with his head tilted to the ground. Light reflected off a purplish object not far away. He peered against the sunlight to see the whole object. It's his scouter.

 _The hell am I saying? I can stop this!_

His heart sank dry, but he sucked it up. Jimmy made a mad dash towards it, feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders. He grabbed the scouter and hastily attached it to his left eye. He double clicked to grab the nearest power level. The scouter first detected Cell's, a heart drop on its own right. The next detection was of Trunks, which was going down after every punch. A third scan discovered a distant power level that dwarfed Cell's. Better still, there were communication options available. There's no doubt about it; it's Superman.

Electro-Man clicked a smaller button to get a stable connection with the legendary superhero.

"Yes?" A static voice said.

"He's over here!"

* * *

Superman watched the city before him burn. A quick flythrough with his x-ray vision was more than enough for him to deduce that Cell isn't in his area. Since he is miles above Cell's power, there really is no point of him coming so soon. Trunks's own power could give Cell a hell of a battle if he fails to show. The Cell hunt fervor within him is dying down for the first time. He took the little time he had to reflect.

It felt like years since these multiverse people invaded his planet. However, it was only months ago when a single being destroyed decades of human work and trillions of dollars. Everything was better back then. He can remember running from the Daily Planet to fight (and win) against one of the many adversaries Luthor throws at him. The crowd that gathers around him cheers when Superman says some great one liner before knocking the villain out. After dealing with some of the smaller scum of the day, he returns home as Clark to a loving Lois in their apartment. They talk, eat dinner, perhaps something else later in the night, and sleep to repeat their respectively exciting lives.

Clark can't even remember the last time he saw Lois. He lives day after day in the Watchtower since the Cell threat, taking his blue and red uniform out only for cleaning. Crime has rapidly gone up since Cell arrived. Often times he is a few minutes too late to another one of Cell's massacres, so he has to play clean up for the rest of the day. His young, noble face has been replaced with the linings and wrinkles of stress. Rarely has he even smiled or cracked a joke these past months.

Superman looked before him a crumbling city. It ached his heart to see the clothes littered everywhere, and utterly destroyed buildings once housed some of the joyous people here.

A soft beep ringed on his left ear, a notification to open up his communication stream. He clicked a small button to hear heavy breathing and flames.

"Yes?"

"He's over here!"

Superman's eyes narrowed. Back on the hunt again.

* * *

Cell paused his beating for a moment to fixate on the incoming power level. Trunks dropped to the ground cold while Cell stood upright.

 _Does this man ever take a break?_

A blue and red blur glistened in the red sky and crash landed almost too close to Cell. Cell lashed out first, lounging towards the hero. It was no surprise to him that Superman vanished by the time he reached him. Cell looked with the corner of his eye to see Superman hand Trunks to Electro-Man.

"Fool!" Cell propelled a yellow energy blast. A soft explosion erupted, with dust and building debris flying everywhere. The dust cleared moments later to reveal nothing.

The bio-android darted left and right to find his hidden enemy. There was nothing to see but fire and destruction he indirectly caused. He looked up, and sure enough, a red boot smashed his face and brought the rest of his body to the ground. Superman grabbed Cell's feet and carelessly threw him to the sky. He heat blasted the abomination a dozen times over before he landed a mile away. A quick boost of speed brought him next to Cell, whose body was sore with scratches and bruises adorning it.

He picked up Cell and brought him to face level. The anger within him surged to murderous levels. A well-sprayed heat blast could surely kill him, but should he do it? Should he go behind many of the JL member's wishes and end him? No… he respects them. They respect him. But the many things Cell's done; the massacres, the burning, the destruction. Why allow such evil the same rights as everyone else? And Lois… to allow such an evil, _evil_ thing to even stand _near_ her…

What if Cell kills her?

"I'm sorry Cell, but this has to be done." Superman's eyes lit up with red scalding heat.

Two beams blew out of his eyes. A stream of concentrated heat disintegrated everything in its path, including two buildings unfortunate enough to be in the center of its range. Even the dust too dematerialized into nothingness. Superman sighed in great relief. The hunt for one of the deadliest creatures he ever came across is over.

Something was off, though. There should have been at least _some_ trace of his death. His relief sharply turned into anxiety. He darted to the left. A faint, very faint, but definite light was trailing off in the distance. There's no other thing it could be.

Whatever the heat beam didn't destroy crumbled around him while Superman erupted towards Cell. The street below him was instantly disintegrated as soon as the force of his movement touched it. Superman flew beyond the city and into the mountain range a short trek away, returning to a fresh, bluish atmosphere. Cell entered the dense forest that adorned the mountains. Superman entered seconds later in pursuit.

Both super powered aliens were so powerful that the trees around them gave way. To get a clear view of Cell, Superman continuously streamed heat vision. Still, it was impossible for Superman to get in front without accidentally going too far. The forest stretched on seemingly forever. Watching the forest go on and on with Cell just a nip ahead was too irritating to bear.

Superman flew to the sky and sprayed a strong cast of heat vision. The result was a several-mile-wide crater in the middle of the forest, with Cell lying lightly damaged in its outer rim. The skies bared no trace of the redness of Winchester or of even civilization itself. Superman touched down to the crater and walked fist balled to Cell.

Cell got up, teeth gritted and fists balled as well. He wiped a drool of blood before flying towards Superman. Two punches were swiftly dodged before Superman savagely smashed Cell to the dirt. He picked him up by his crowned head before boot kicking him some paces away. Cell's feet grinded with the ground below, piling up some dirt behind them.

"How?" Cell spat out, getting himself back into balance.

"How are you so damn powerful?"

Cell clenched his fists tightly enough to draw blood. He gritted his teeth hard enough to make them shatter. The way Cell looked at it, he was making himself seem a lot more serious. Superman saw it only as a pathetic attempt to make the weak look stronger.

"I- I did not come all this way to lose to vermin like you!"

Superman watched the display of anger with a smirk on his face.

"You think this is funny Superman?" Cell said with his own devilish grin.

"It won't be once I absorb Lois into- "

 **"** **DON'T DARE SAY HER NAME!"**

One thunderous punch sent Cell to the other side of the massive crater. Superman boomed towards Cell in less than a second, kicking him towards the sky. Superman ascended, cuffed his hands, and drove it into Cell. The bio-android flew like a comet to the center of the crater.

 _Time to die, you scum._

One thing stood in his way from ending Cell up above. Electro-Man. He stood nearby Cell with his hands raised up.

"Don't kill me, I give up!" The hero half-assed to the beaten up villain.

Superman deduced that he pursued Superman and Cell after bringing Trunks into safety. It was clear that there was a point to this show Electro-Man's trying to pull off, but Superman couldn't fathom of one smart enough.

Cell stood up, stumbling a bit again before he could get a good balance. Something about the whole situation was very off-putting, especially since Superman continues to just hover above.

"Please don't kill me!"

"Oh, I won't." Cell hissed, discreetly raising his tail. Even if it was some ploy, he'd be damned if he didn't take advantage of such a morsel.

Cell sharply poised the business end as if to strike. Electro-Man placed his hands in front of him in defense. A glowing red light began to emit from Superman's eyes in response.

"Do you really think your heat vision could reach me before I pierce his heart?"

The standoff was over as quickly as it began. Superman reeled back the heat, and Cell pulled back his tail. Electro-Man continued to stand their petrified. Cell started to ascend to the sky with a hand trained on Electro-Man.

"If anyone so much as moves, I'll blow this idiot away."

Cell nearly got out of range of Electro-Man when a new challenger arrived behind him, one that looked akin to how he looked like in his 1st form. In fact, he looked exactly like that clone he encountered weeks earlier.

"C-19? I thought I absorbed you!"

C-20 lounged at Cell. Cell dodged the attack at the expense of losing sight of Electro-Man. Superman seized this opportunity and angrily fired his heat vision at Cell. With a fraction of a second to react, the original bio-android kicked the imposter directly into the beam's range. C-20 corroded and then disintegrated into nothing. While this was happening, Cell fired at Electro-Man. He flew into the distance at top speed while C-20's ashes flew to the ground.

Superman was just about to pursue him until he realized the damage Cell has caused. Electro-Man lied nearly dead, with most bones in his body broken. Had he not been as strong as he was nor was hit by the outermost damage, he would have certainly died. Superman watched Cell fly into the distance. Any assistance Superman could call on would be far too late, and Cell is already long gone.

Superman sighed. The hunt was over. He grabbed the broken hero and made his way to a small relief center for the inhabitants of Winchester.

"Why did you do come?" Superman asked during their flight. It was a stretch, to say the least that Electro-Man could speak, nevertheless even hear.

"I… placed a tracking chip." Electro-Man groaned out, a pleasant surprise to Superman.

The two continued to fly away in silence, Cell flying in the opposite direction. Superman couldn't express it at the moment, but the rage inside on him continued to bubble. So close was he yet again to murdering the being he has been chasing down for months. The tracing chip will certainly help, but it's only a minor victory. The hunt won't stop until every cell in that abomination's body is obliterated.

* * *

Batman and Luthor still had their jaws wide open at what they saw. C-20 didn't even last 10 seconds out there.

"Shit!" Luthor was the first to speak about his utter failure. He banged his hands on the control panel. "All that work and money wasted!"

Batman watched Luthor nearly break the control panel before coming to his senses.

"Do you have any more Cell clones to draw from?"

"No," Luthor sighed, fully regaining composure. "Another Cell clone at this point will take weeks. But I do have something..." Luthor replied, sniffling a bit.

Luthor pressed a few commands on the lightly cracked control panel to see the status of the other tanks. All of them show up empty except for one.

"I only have one other project that's actually about fighting. I've been working on this since Cell destroyed Metropolis."

Luthor walked Batman towards his latest work. Batman's eyes widened when he looked at the green tank before him. Expecting another modified clone of Cell, he instead was shown what appeared to be Superman.

"The hell?" Batman bellowed. The guards, already at a cautious state the moment Batman arrived, waited for the moment the dark knight did anything remotely dangerous. "Haven't you already made enough clones!"

"Allow me to explain." Batman's hands were instinctively around his utility belt. He moved them back but was still dismissive of what Lex had to say.

"I made him in the scenario that Superman died fighting Cell. Once his objective is complete, and no universally evil invader enters the planet, I'll kill him myself using a self-destructive brain implant. And he's nothing like Superboy."

"You shouldn't be the one to decide who is a threat and who isn't."

"Stop being such a hypocrite." Luthor snapped back. "This is exactly like C-19 or 20."

Batman sighed. Accepting what is actually a decent asset in his plans will effectively make him a target of the Justice League, especially Superman. But it's not like he has that many options to choose from.

"How long will it take to finalize him?"

"Uh," Luthor yawned. "Five days if I actually try."

Batman walked a few paces away before clicking for a communication line on his scouter.

"Manhunter, how's the situation with Winchester?"

"It was a victory, but a costly one." A static filled voice grimly replied. A fire can be heard in the distance. "Most of the civilians evacuated in time. A few of our own were killed while trying to fight Cell. In the end, Cell escaped."

"I'll be beaming to the watchtower shortly."

"There was something else, though."

"Hmm?" Batman asked curiosity peaked.

"Electro-Man placed a tracking chip on Cell. The moment is nearly upon us when we have to decide how we will deal with him."

"Oh, we'll talk. Batman out."

Batman closed the communication signal and faced Luthor, who was trying to inch closer to be able to hear the conversation.

"Luthor, call your best allies, mercenaries, anyone and everyone capable of fighting Cell."

Luthor's twitched a bit in confusion. "What for? Can't you just call your Justice buddies for help?"

"Something tells me that not many of them are going to accept what I have to say."

Luthor stared even longer. It was obvious that Batman was planning something big with this Superman clone, but why bring villains to the picture? If Superman is more than enough to defeat Cell, what's the point of bringing _any_ of them? He'll have to contemplate on this later.

"I'll see who I can call… Paragon perhaps? Amazo? Zoom? I have a whole list of friends."

"I'll let you decide."

"Y'know Batman; I think this is the beginning of a- "

"No."

The dark knight walked to the exiting latch with every guard trained on his movements. Luthor walked by closely.

"Contact me as soon as your project finishes," Batman commanded. Luthor nodded.

"I can tell you've been thinking about what my motives Luthor." Batman began the climb to the hatch above.

"Cell's approaching perfection every day. If I'm ever going to stop him, I'll have to fix a little philosophical issue."

And with that, Batman left, leaving Lex Luthor still confused. Once he was topside, Batman clicked on a few buttons in his scouter. A blue beam of light surrounded him after a minute delay. Batman began to dematerialize bit by bit until both he and the blue light disappeared.

* * *

And so the hunt is put to a pause. Perhaps not as climactic as some might have hoped (Chaos king6?), but still a good chapter. Tensions that have been building up since the beginning of the story are reaching its peak. Some things will have to change in order to stop Cell from reaching his perfection. Everyone knows this, including Cell himself.

 **Guest (Chapter 7):** You're acting like the power levels I'm using are official or something. They're not. Please get over that fact.

I'm REALLY itching to get the next chapter in. Since I'm getting better at hitting my release dates, expect the next update around the end of May or very early June (like the first week). This next chapter is going to be the best one I've pumped EVER. Stay tuned!


	9. Doomsday

**DISCLAIMER:** I own neither **Dragon Ball** or **DC Comics**.

* * *

Beyond the known universe, a being looked surprised. Though nothing new was happening, he could feel something spectacular about to happen on Earth. He didn't know what or when, but he knew it was going to change everything.

So he did what he was doing since the beginning and kept watching. Soon enough, his answer will be revealed to him. One thing's for certain, though. Whatever it is, it will definitely help him escape this prison.

* * *

Morning dawns. The people in the continental United States wake up to their 9 to 5 shifts and schools. They aren't in fear. They talk, laugh, sing, even play. With the exception of those living in the Midwest and East coast, life goes on as normal, save for the influx of criminal activity as super villains move out of the East. This increase though is negligible, as they now have the constant and persistent force of nearly the entire Justice League.

Though the police may be good spotters to alert the Justice League about Cell's whereabouts through secured audio channels, they can do little else to stop him. At most, they are there to slow him down enough for the superheroes to arrive. Even the army, though not sent due to the unhappiness it would bring to the populace, would be putty against such a powerful enemy. It is the Justice League that time and time again have to save the people from Cell on top of handling the regularly occurring villains of the world. However, time and time again Cell manages to escape their clutches due to his wide array of tricks and vast knowledge stolen from the absorbed. You could be one moment with your hands in his throat, then a flash would disorientate you, and a few seconds later he would be gone. Despite this, there have been many times when the Justice League had him cornered with no means of escape. In these moments, the Justice League will turn upon itself.

In the Justice League's watchtower, there is no difference between night and day. Not only does the outside look relatively the same, but they work practically nonstop around the world. In fact, the watchtower is mostly empty, save for the few that passed out after a mission or those like Bulma that work inside the watchtower itself.

Batman sat in the League's mess hall alone. He was far too into thought to even think about eating the food in front of him. He thought about the times before the arrival of these new trans-universal travelers, where everyone was happier and life was much easier. The tower has become little more than a place to gather your equipment for your next dispatching an hour later. There has been little time to talk with the other League members or even go home. And now that he thought about it, he wasn't even sure when was the last time he even saw Alfred, Damian, or Barbara. He even feels guilty for the moments where he risked the safety of Gotham just to hold a temporary alliance with Luthor. Perhaps, things should go back to a simpler time...

The mess hall doors open. J'onn quietly walks towards Batman. He wasn't even aware he was there until J'onn tapped his shoulder.

"It's time," The Martian quietly spoke. He looked at Bruce for a bit longer before walking out.

Once Martian Manhunter left, Batman threw the untouched food away and walked out after him. The corridors in the watchtower were dimmed a bit to ease the eyes of the members who have to work nonstop. The two senior League members continued their journey through a flight of stairs to reach the top level of the watchtower. Through there, they walk towards a door that has to scan them before entering.

Superman, Flash, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern sat around a table. Everyone's faces look weary, despite having the luxury of a long sleep just for this meeting. Martian Manhunter and Batman took their seats respectively.

"We've been waiting a week to have this meeting. I'll make it simple." Manhunter began loudly, wakening the six to attention.

"We won't be any use if we're fighting amongst ourselves. We need to decide this now."

J'onn raised his hand up.

"Who here agrees that we should kill Cell instead of apprehending him?"

Flash's hand shot up first, with Superman and Green Lantern's hands raised up afterward. J'onn himself lowered his hand.

"I don't like this any more than you guys do, but dammit, he killed Cyborg! He killed a man that used to sit next to me right here! He killed Victor! He even killed Captain Atom!"

Superman watched Flash's temper flare up, a rare occasion. When he looked at his eyes, he knew of that same anger, that same rage that Cell has instilled in him too. Hal Jordan saw this too.

"Flash is right," Superman said, looking at the senior members before him. "Cell did kill one of our very own, several in fact, but we shouldn't base our actions on our personal losses. Cell murdered 50 to _6_ _0,000_ people in the United States, a bigger death toll than almost every villain we've come across. The people will want him dead. _I,_ want him dead."

"I agree," Green Lantern chimed in. Everyone redirected their attention, Batman, especially. "His actions are unheard of and reprehensible. He should die."

"That's funny, You're strong enough to face him and yet you haven't even seen him yourself." Batman strongly replied.

"You haven't either."

"There's a difference. While you were answering other alerts and conversing with the Green Lantern corps, I'm the one actively financing and managing this manhunt. At least I'm doing something."

Hal was about to open his mouth in protest before J'onn raised his hand up again.

"Who is in favor of not killing Cell?"

Only Batman raised his hand, while Manhunter continued to keep his up.

"No matter how well you can disguise it," Batman fixated on Superman. The two locked eyes for a moment before reverting their attentions. "You're all only seeing the bloodlust in your actions. I know you all want to kill Cell, and I would be in favor of it if it wouldn't cause something worse to happen."

"And what would that be?" Superman's eyes flared red, something that only Batman noticed.

"The disintegration of the Justice League."

While everyone was astonished by Batman's words, Superman couldn't help but chuckle.

"All that intelligence of yours really means nothing, does it? We have over 100 active members, we're too big to just dissolve like- "

"It will be replaced with a dictatorship."

Superman knew exactly what he was talking about. He stood up, alarming some of the members beside him. Even the Flash, one that was agreeing with him moments earlier, was scared of what he might do.

"Do you honestly think I'm anything like that Superman?"

Batman stood up and walked right in front of him. They stared into each other's eyes. They can see the anger and weariness in both of them.

"The Superman that took over the world and killed Green Arrow and Shazam?"

The two stood there in silence. Everyone remembers what happened two years ago, where they were transported into a universe of cold injustice. A universe where Superman's regime proved supreme and their rebellion's survival hinged on the strength of their intact Justice League. No one wants another Superman like that, one haunted by past grievances and rules the Earth with an almighty fist.

An eternity stretched on and then some before they both sat down in their respective seats.

"Now," Martian Manhunter started, dragging away from the whole incident. "Since we are equals, we shall act according to the majority."

Manhunter turned to Wonder Woman, who was quiet throughout the discussion.

"What do you think Wonder Woman?"

She had a good reason to say nothing. She was perplexed about the situation ever since she sat down. Her mind usually leans on the idea that killing Cell would be of the greater good, but what Batman recently said made her drawn between two sides.

"I don't know J'onn…" Wonder Woman weakly responded, still entranced in her thoughts. She briskly recollected herself amongst her peers.

"I'm neutral on the subject." She said confidently.

"Then we will wait until we are about to leave for your response. After that, we will raid Cell using our strongest available heroes by night according to Eastern Time. Any objections?"

An uneasy silence loomed the air. Tensions were remarkably high, as those who desire to kill Cell look down on those who oppose them. Even J'onn J'onz played this game. He eventually ceased himself of such pettiness.

"Then we're dismissed."

Everyone raised themselves out of their seats and walked out the door, it automatically opening for Flash first, who naturally wanted to leave in a hurry. Superman was the last to leave, his eyes fixated on Batman one last time before walking away. Martian Manhunter too was going to leave before Batman tapped his shoulder.

"Do you truly believe we shouldn't kill Cell?"

"Yes. His death will only ignite further disorganization amongst our ranks."

"Can I trust you?"

Manhunter was at first hesitant, but he replied with a questionable yes. Batman walked the Martian a little farther away from the door and clicked a few buttons on his scouter. The scouter was bombarded with dozens of sequences of alien text, most of them Batman had recognized by this point. Once the sequences stopped, surveillance cameras in the meeting room would look as if Batman and Martian Manhunter left. Batman double clicked the scouter, calling this time for a specific audio channel, a call to someone tens of miles away. The other end of the call began with the sound of liquid falling to a surface.

"Hello?"

No voice replied back, only more of this liquid sound.

"Luthor?"

Manhunter looked at Batman bizarrely.

 _Did he just call Lex Luthor?_

"Luthor!" Batman hissed.

The liquid sound stopped.

"What? What! Can't you see I'm pissing here?" A flushing sound can be heard right after his statement.

"Are you done with the experiment?"

"I've been for days now."

"Then why haven't you told me?"

"Now you see, I could've contacted you," Miles away, Luthor was washing his hands in one of his elegant bathrooms in Texas. "But I wasn't done with everything you asked me. Getting all my contacts in order can take a while you know."

"I hope you're done with that, we need to deploy everything we've got today."

"Today?"

"Today," Batman replied.

"Fuck, I'll call you back once I'm ready."

"You have about twelve hours. I'll come to you."

Luthor ended the call on his phone. He gazed at himself in his mirror and noticed that he's still wearing his red silk pajamas. As evil and corrupt everyone says him to be, one cannot discard the fact that he's fighting for good. Mostly for self-preservation, sure, but still good. Luthor couldn't help but chuckle in the mirror of the notion that he just might be up for redemption here.

Nevertheless, he cracked his achy back and smiled at his chiseled physique in the mirror.

It was time to collect some debts.

Meanwhile, Manhunter was still confused about the entire situation.

"Is this what you wanted to show me? That you're allying yourself with a criminal?"

Batman turned his attention away from his scouter and towards Manhunter.

"This is not some permanent alliance. He can create the weapons we need to end Cell without Superman."

"Without Superman?"

"Look, Wonder Woman doesn't look like she'll vote for our cause. Without her vote, the Justice League won't help us."

"This is just too much."

Manhunter walked towards the door with his head hung low. A good part of him feels that Batman is right, but to go against the Justice League? To go against the Justice League with _criminals_ by their side? What will they look like to the people? To the Justice League?

"You know what I'm saying is right J'onn. I need to know if you'll be on my side."

J'onn stopped walking. He looked down for quite a while before turning towards Batman.

"Give me time to convince Wonder Woman. If she doesn't vote for us… I'll join you."

Batman nodded. Manhunter kept walking to the door before he heard Batman speak once more.

"We're not the only ones who think like this. If I can get everyone together, we'll defeat Cell and save the Justice League."

"By causing even more instability. Right."

J'onn walked towards the door while it automatically opened for him. He left, leaving Bruce to his thoughts.

* * *

Rain pours upon the east coast of the United States. The east was ravaged the most by Cell's wrath, as he literally carved paths in the land while absorbing whomever he pleased. Its people are frightened, abandoned by their local superheroes and under the constant care of the government. The few that survive Cell's destruction live in government provided tent centers usually nearby the destroyed city, as Cell isn't known to return to old places. The people clanged on to this hope in such dark times.

Some saw this rain as a bad omen, a warning to leave as it never rained this bad before since he arrived. But it wasn't like there was anywhere else to go. They were trapped in their tents like sitting ducks.

Cell went unusually fast on this feeding. Though mastering his absorption made him drink humans away almost instantly, any normal feeding would still take about 30 minutes. This took 10. Instead of flying away to the next tent center, Cell flew a bit away and sat in a prairie. A tree stump in the distance called for him, so he sat on it.

 _There just something that beckons me there…_ He thought as he looked up to the sky. Rain droplets drizzled down his face while he pondered.

He turned to his east. Past recollections of humans long gone tell him that Metropolis lies there. Captain Oswald, a man that he absorbed many months ago, is his true drive here. There was something else in the cargo truck he was in. That thing just might be what he needs to achieve perfection. He could even feel its power from as far away as here, a power that felt suppressed for so long. The only obstacle in his way is the fact that the cargo was supposed to move to Luthor's headquarters in Metropolis, a city virtually flattened a while back.

 _Doesn't hurt to try…_

Cell got up, scratched his crown-like head and flew eastward.

* * *

"Lost communication? What do you mean lost communication!"

The senior Superman towered above Electro-Man, whom already lost respect for Superman.

"I-I just did, okay? He must have destroyed the tracer. The best I can do is give you track his last location."

"That's your best? I let you live so that you can _try your best_? You little sh- "

"Hey!"

Martian Manhunter pushed Superman aside. The three were fortunate enough to be secluded in the meeting room. Manhunter gave him a stink face before fixing his attention to Electro-Man.

"He doesn't mean that, we've just been having a long day."

"I get it, no hard feelings."

"Give us his latest location."

Electro-Man hesitated before removing his scouter. A 3-D image of the United States map projected from the scouter's screen. There were numerous yellow dots in the east coast with tame stamps, representing places that Cell was sighted. The latest of these places was coincidentally the most eastward.

"This was about a few hours ago, so we aren't too far off."

"It doesn't matter how soon your time was," Superman began, walking up to them. "Cell could fly anywhere in a matter of seconds if he wanted to."

"True, but judging by all the timestamps, Cell has really concentrated on the northeast. He might be up to something. It's a miracle that he hasn't invaded the city of Gotham though."

"Maybe that's his plan. Pick around the surrounding area before going for Gotham city." Martian Manhunter replied, folding his arms.

"I don't know; he's really hitting close to Metropolis than Gotham city."

"There's nothing of value left in Metropolis. It's destroyed."

Manhunter's words irritated Superman. He wanted the slap the Martian pest for dare speaking negatively about his city, but he showed his restraint.

"Then it's settled then," Superman said, clearly agitated. "We'll send some to Gotham while bringing the brunt of the League to Metropolis."

Superman abruptly moved away from the table and left. Since no one wanted to oppose what he dictated, Manhunter and Electro-Man exchanged a few glances at each other before leaving themselves.

* * *

Hours went by around the world. The day slowly turned to evening, with the daily work shift coming to a close. Aboard the watchtower, several superheroes started to gear up for the impending battle. Superman himself studied the Earth's surface from a window. No matter what happens today, he'll protect that green and blue marble to the death if he has to, for Lois's sake.

"Sir."

Electro-Man walked to Superman's side. He was a bit nervous from their last conversation, but mostly okay.

"Call me Superman," The man replied, still staring at the window. "We're equals. Sorry about what happened earlier, I wasn't feeling okay."

"It's alright." Electro-Man genuinely replied back. Truth be told that despite the many flaws Superman has, Electro-Man sees past them. A few mistakes blotch his vision here and there, but for the most part, he only sees the hero in him.

I've been meaning to ask you to allow me in that invasion plan of yours."

"No offense," Superman light turned his head towards the young hero. "But you'll only get in the way. It's why Batman isn't included."

"I know... My uncle was killed by him when he massacred Winchester. If I don't at least try to avenge him..."

Superman turned completely to see the look in Electro-Man's eyes. The passion, that rage inside of them made Superman think of the young lad entirely different. To Superman, he just might be more than a spineless accident.

"Fine. Just get ready."

The fire in Electro-Man's eyes brightened. He scurried off to gear up his weapons. The young superhero managed to walk past Wonder Woman, where they locked eyes for a moment. Wonder Woman herself was heading to the research labs. She opened the door to see Bulma typing away with Trunks by her shoulder.

"Everything okay?" Trunks asked, her mother far too distracted to notice the Amazonian princess's arrival.

"Yup. We're preparing the strike force now; you should start preparing yourself."

"Alright, but what about you? Have you made that decision yet?"

"Not quite." She replied, scratching her head.

"I'm still indecisive. What do you think?"

"If I were you," Trunks started. There was a certain determination in his words that made them carry a lot more value. "I'd want to tear that monstrosity to pieces. It's creatures like those that plagued my world and killed all my friends and family. We need to strike before Cell does something drastic. Or worse... achieve his goal."

"I see. Thank you."

Wonder Woman walked back and out of the lab, leaving with what she came for. Trunks was going to leave after her to ready himself before Bulma managed to get to the door before him. She closed the door behind them.

"Whatever you do, don't kill Cell."

"What? Are you crazy?"

"These people aren't accustomed to killing people like we are, especially Batman. This league they have going on won't survive something like that."

Trunks turned to his back.

"…Fine."

"No," Bulma turned Trunks to him, their blue eyes gazing for a moment. "Promise me."

"I promise mom."

Meanwhile, Wonder Woman continued to walk down the watchtower's corridors. She noticed Martian Manhunter walking at the other end of the hallway. The two exchange a glance before the Martian decided to walk with her.

"There's something I need to explain to you," Manhunter said. The statement piqued her interests.

Once Wonder Woman nodded in agreement, the two stop dead in the middle of the hallway.

"Your choice can very well change the entire- "

"I get it J'onn."

"No, you don't. Let me tell you this. Batman and Superman are tied together by a thin thread. No matter the choice you make, it _will_ end badly. Choose the side with the least casualties."

Manhunter took one last grandeur at the Amazon before disappearing into the corridor. The weight applied to Wonder Woman was so much that she could barely move. It was moments like these where she longed for Hippolyta, her mother, for her guidance. Alas, Themyscira is too far away, her own demons so much closer.

* * *

Superman watched the heroes before him come and go into the teleporter. Each one looked more restless than the last, with dark bags under their eyes to prove it. Superman almost felt guilty that he gets to stay in the watchtower while everyone has to do all the work. Part of him wants to just go back to the easy days before even a Justice League, where he'll just hear a crime going on in Metropolis and rush to the rescue. Alas, Metropolis is gone. He heard through the grape vine that Lois and his friends are still alive, a joy that Clark praises in silence.

Batman was another thing in his mind. All fingers point to Batman definitely doing some lucrative business, but he can't for the life of him conceive of something he might be doing. Despite these thoughts, he still thinks of Batman as his friend. Despite the power struggle between them, they've always settled their differences eventually.

 _Yeah... things will sort out eventually._

Another person entered from the teleporter. Superman was very much surprised to see instead of the regular folk, a man that rules the seas: Aquaman.

"Aquaman? It's been a long time old friend."

"A long time indeed."

The two shook hands with vigor, warming Superman's heart a bit. Aquaman looked so much younger than he did, and that's purely because he hasn't been around these past months.

"How goes things in Atlantis?"

"Good. I made the most out of my leave by building up the kingdom. It's also the reason why I came back."

"So you've heard the news."

"Both news, actually. I've also heard Metropolis was destroyed recently. I'm sorry."

Superman was mentally staggered by such a hit. He recollected himself to hide away the fact.

"I've also heard of whispers about a monster named Cell, a creature from another universe that's killed tens of thousands on the surface. He must be the same person that destroyed Metropolis I presume. Such a threat is as much of a threat to the seas as is the surface world, so I've come to help you kill it."

"Then you'll make a good asset to the strike force."

"Strike force?"

"We're assembling a squad of the best people we can bring out without too much of a hassle. We're leaving as soon as Wonder Woman gives the okay."

As on cue, Wonder Woman walked in with a rather cleared conscience look. She nodded to Aquaman, which he did the same.

"I've made my decision. When we're done with Cell, we'll kill him."

"Good, so I guess we're leaving now."

* * *

Cell was at the very doorstep of what used to be one of the greatest cities on Earth. Metropolis, once teeming with millions of people and a sanctuary for ''Earth's Greatest Hero''. is now nothing but a desolate husk. Cell snickered at the thought. He enjoyed destroying this city, watching its people cower while he absorbed the lot of them. He would do it again had it not interfered with his current plans.

A little pillaging of the land was in order before he came here of course, but now he will do what he came here to do. He flew to Luthor's old headquarters based off the information Captain Oswald gave him, leading him west of the city. He flew over to find it gone, it's foundation the only thing remaining. Had he not received the information given, he wouldn't have even known this was Luthor's HQ.

"Pointless." Cell muttered to himself before turning to fly away. However, one thing caught his eye before he could take flight.

It was hard to see under all that rubble, but something was definitely leading down. He touched down and walked over to the destroyed headquarters. An airwave cleared out most of the blocking rubble, revealing a stairwell down. Though he hesitated to venture forth, something else kept him invested. A massive power level was down there, one that closely matched Superman. Such a being is exactly what he needs to finally complete his quest. Cell walked down the steps with a certain gusto, a sense of achievement if you will. He knows he has already won.

Booster Gold, despite the advanced 25th-century gadgetry such as his legion flight ring and power suit, is no match for Cell. He wouldn't dare even get near the guy, seeing how he made quick work with Geo-Force and Adam Strange. He was overly confused when Electro-Man expressed his wishes to go fight him again, despite telling Gold the hellish nightmare that is Cell a week prior. Nope, he'll leave that work to the Supermen of the League. Instead, he'll be a messenger boy.

Carter walked over to Batman's private quarters, a luxury only given to the seniors. It irks him how he has to sleep in a bunk bed for the past few weeks. As the old custom, he knocked on the door. No answer. He knocked on the door again a bit louder. No answer again. He was just about ready to call his mission a bust before realizing he _really_ wants to see what Batman has inside there.

"Skeets?"

Booster's robotic companion was surfing the internet the entire time. He was lucky enough to decipher what Gold wanted based on the loose words he heard.

"I'm on it!"

Skeets hovered by the server box that receives ID cards in order to get it. He pierced the box with something that came out of the back of his body. After a few seconds, the sound of static could be heard before the door opened.

To his surprise, there was nothing of value there. Just about everything he expected of someone who hides things well. One thing wasn't hidden well, though, a tiny disc on his bed that you can insert into your scouter. Booster Gold had his own blue scouter to match his costume, a peculiar device that he likes to keep in his list of technologies. It might not be the most useful thing in his arsenal, but it's sure as hell the coolest looking. Booster slid the disc inside of his scouter and waited a bit for it to play.

"If you're listening to this," Batman's gruff voice rang, always a terrifying delight to hear in the morning. "Then it's too late."

"What I do is for the good of the Justice League and for the people. I am the one who severed the tracer's connection. If you, Superman, are listening to this when I expect you to be, I'm already there."

The disc ended. Booster shakenly removed it from his scouter.

"Holy…"

Booster fumbled with the disc a bit in his hands before running out of Batman's quarters. The shit he has in his hands just might get him out of his bunk bed arrangement.

* * *

Just as Batman expected, Booster listened to the disc when he expected him to. He was already in Metropolis with an array of villains beside him to boast. Both him and Luthor stood against Amazo, Zoom, Gorilla Grodd, and Black Adam stood before them. The two sported a slim battlesuit, one black and gray and the other gold and the other gold and purple respectively. Everyone was drenched in the rain that recently started to pour. While Luthor was impressed by the turnout, Batman frowned. Something was missing.

"Where's the clone?"

"He'll be arriving shortly. I'm giving him a bit of an upgrade to bring him up to speed."

"Even with him, do you honestly think this will be enough?"

"It's the best I can do bats. Most people are afraid to go against Cell."

"Precisely," Grodd added, scratching his head. "Or at least that's the word around these days. I only came so that I may harness this Cell's abilities. That, and to see if it really was Batman on our side."

"We're not on the same side." Batman snapped back.

Luthor pointed to Adam and pointed at the stairwell Cell went into prior.

"Find out what Cell is doing down there, but be silent."

Black Adam nodded, flying down into the stairwell. The rest of the squad looked at Luthor for their orders, despite each one having their own agendas.

"So, the hell do we do?" Zoom said, flailing his arms in frustration.

"You stand right where you are," Batman said, walking towards him. Zoom was both confused with his orders and why Batman is the one delivering them.

"Once Superman arrives; we need a force ready to stop him at this location."

"Makes sense," Grodd chimed in. "But three men isn't going to stop a dozen."

"How do you know how much there are?"

"Look at the sky... simpleton." Grodd murmured the last part.

Gorilla Grodd pointed at the moving dots almost too far away from peripheral vision. They were indeed much more than the three of them. These dots slowly became shapes. The first of the shapes to fully take form and touch down to the ground is Superman. Even from the distance that separated them, Batman saw that Superman's eyes adorned the purest fury in them. The four villains wanted to just run from the sight of Superman, but a silent agreement made them persevere.

 **"YOU!"** Superman uttered as he pointed his finger at Batman.

Superman walked up to Batman with his strike force right behind. Another standoff ensued, where Superman fruitlessly tried to intimidate Batman. The scars on Batman run far too deep for that to work. The man of steel noticed that he only achieved in scaring everyone else, so he calmed himself. He wouldn't dare make the first punch for the sake of his reputation.

"Allying yourself with these malefactors? Really? A new low- no, even worse. This is treason. That tape you 'accidentally' left in your room confirms it. "

"As smart as you are Superman, I don't expect you to see the bigger picture."

"And you even allied yourself with Luthor! My own nemesis!" Superman shook his head.

"There is no bigger picture. I'm giving you one last chance to stop this now Bruce. Surrender now, and we'll arrest those criminals behind you. We can defeat Cell together and save the world."

Batman's eyes brightened up. He made a quick glance at Luthor. He nodded and then started to walk away. Though Flash was just about ready to snatch the billionaire criminal up in practically an instant, Wonder Woman held him back.

"I can see it now, the _real_ reason why you want to kill him."

Superman's eyes twitched.

"You're scared, scared that he might become stronger than you."

"Scared of what he might do to Lois!"

Superman snapped. Batman is one of the few in the Justice League that knows his true identity. The idea of Bruce practically revealing it aloud, putting Lois into the mix, struck the final chord. The world around him closed itself in, leaving nothing but him and Bruce. He lunged at him with all the hate he could muster. He could feel forces pulling him back, but he blew them away like an afterthought. One punch sent Batman flying away. He yearned to reach him, to fly over and strangle his mangled body more, but the forces surrounding him were too much.

Reality snapped back in. Gorilla Grodd had his fists pounding Superman over and over again. A haze grew over him. The beating was stopped by Aquaman, who rubbed Superman's head to pry him awake.

"The hell just happened?" Superman asked with a lisp, his vision still blurry.

"Chaos. While you were out, the Martian betrayed us."

Superman turned to his side to see Martian Manhunter battle Green Lantern. He lounged at the lantern with an enlarged fist. Hal made a cinder block construct a second before it was too late. Manhunter tried to break it apart, but the Flash intercepted him.

"Where's Batman?"

When he was given no answer, he took the arduous journey of turning to his side. Aquaman was gone, now a distance away battling Grodd. A strong force lifted Superman's body up. Superman was looking dead at Amazo, his eyes, and body unmoving.

"Just so y'know, out of everyone here, I like your powers best."

Amazo threw Superman away and blasted him with heat vision for good measure. Wonder Woman came a few seconds too late, bashing Amazo with her shoulder. Amazo lurched forward, now with a new disfiguring mark across his back.

Amazo twisted his body around, cracking his neck and hands as he did so.

"Amazon! Let's dance."

* * *

Although they were far away from the battleground, it was obvious that the inevitable fighting as begun. The explosions and eruptions from the battle were like whispers in the sky, carried softly by the wind. This battle irked Supergirl and especially Trunks. Wonder Girl, Superboy, Supergirl, and Trunks flew in union towards Metropolis. The four were there to defend Gotham in case of attack, but were called in to reinforce Metropolis once Cell was revealed to be there. Rain slowly trickled down, a sign that they've entered the Metropolis area.

Superboy's scouter blinked. He double clicked it to hear a cesspool of chaos and destruction.

"Those reinforcements can be useful right now!" Green Lantern yelled. He constructed a giant hand to match Manhunter's, creating an airwave explosion.

"We're on our way. We'll be there shortly." Superboy closed the transmission.

"They need our help more than ever guys. Let's move at full speed."

The crew moved at top speed, with Trunks turning into a Super Saiyan to go even faster. Trunks's scouter flashed as well for an incoming call. He double clicked it to hear the sound of computers humming.

"Now's a good time."

He ended the transmission. Trunks hesitantly flew past the four and raised his hands.

"The hell are you doing?" Wonder Girl stammered.

Though she hasn't actively fought Cell before, she eagerly took a good amount of alerts left vacant by its usual takers. The idea of this royal rumble happening only miles away was enticing enough, but fighting Cell takes the cake. Trunks was slowly looking more and more easier to hit to the ground and fly past.

"I can't let you guys go any farther."

"Trunks, what are you talking about?" Superboy asked, confused about the whole situation. Same as everyone else.

He steadily flew closer to the Saiyan hybrid in a friendly manner. Trunks still kept his stance, and once he felt Superboy got too close, he smashed him into the ground.

"Have you gone insane?" Wonder Girl asked, readying herself for the challenge before her.

"It's for the greater good that I don't let you all reach Superman."

"Damn right! I always knew you would betray us one point or another!"

Wonder Girl whizzed towards Trunks and bashed his head with her knee. She punched him several times before being stopped and pushed back by an energy blast. She allowed it to move her before deflecting it into the sky.

She might not be as strong as Supergirl, but she's at least a bit over Superboy's strength. A quick power level scan shows that although Trunks has the highest relative strength, the three combined could defeat him. Once she noticed that Superboy was flying towards Trunks, she made her own advance. She made a glance at Supergirl, whom only stood there shocked.

Supergirl watched as the three exchanged blows that pretty much broke the sky. Trunks's golden aura danced in the rain while he kept the two superheroes on the defense. In truth, Supergirl admired this multiverse warrior. He had such a calm and collective attitude, an honorable person that gets the job done as fast as possible. The parallels she can draw between him to Batman and Superman is uncanny.

Trunks punched Superboy square in the face. He flipped numerous times before smashing the ground beneath him. He got up and watched Wonder Girl hold her own against Trunks. Individually, the Saiyan hybrid's skill and technique alone outweighs them, rivaling those like Wonder Woman and even Superman. Fortunately for him though, this isn't the first time he's went up against opponents stronger than him. When he had a clear shot, he burst heat vision from his his eyes, exploding across the Saiyan's chest. Both Wonder Girl and Supergirl were surprised that Superboy resorted to such deadly tactics. While Wonder Girl took this as a sign to become deadlier herself, Supergirl continued to watch.

The truth is, Supergirl wasn't too sure of siding with Superman at all. The idea of just killing Cell, while definitely for the greater good, can be fatal in the future. Supergirl knows Kal-El well enough to know that he will be killing Superman out of fear. And when that happens, he'll allow it to take over his life. He would outlet the anger that the fear gives him, and the world will suffer for it. That's not a future she wants.

Trunks was losing his upper hand. Battered and bruised from the continuous fighting, his guard began to show a lot more vulnerability. Not only that, but his Super Saiyan state that fascinates Supergirl is straining his body. His loss is an inevitability if she doesn't help.

She lunged forward with her fists raised, all the while telling herself that this is for the greater good.

* * *

While the Justice League fought amongst themselves and their enemies, Cell was already closing in on his destination. He could sense the massive power level getting closer and closer, its strength while dormant is still frightening to feel. After a long road of stairs and abandoned hallways that he floated across, only a tall gray wall made of unknown material stood in his way. Though he knew that he could blast it apart relatively easy, even he wasn't that dumb to go dive into something he doesn't know about.

Cell could remember a computer terminal nearby, one that will give him a grasp of just what's behind that wall. A password that he could loosely remember brought him to a blueprint screen with him and Doomsday side by side. Surprised, he scrolled down.

 **PROJECT DOOMSDAY**

This project was originally supposed to be deployed a while ago to kill Superman. The introduction of an outsider with unknown origins named Cell has changed plans. PROJECT DOOMSDAY now has a revision. With the extraction of some of Cell's cells (Odd enough to say), DOOMSDAY will be subjected to genome editing with the addition to the cells extracted from Cell. With weeks still left in the editing process, we hope to enable some of Cell's known abilities such as a more powerful regeneration and perhaps absorption.

 **CAUTION: DOOMSDAY Has NOT been properly sedated. Opening the wall or removing the sedative gas will immediately remove him from hibernation, causing him to become HOSTILE. He perceives ALL life with hostility, especially towards CELL and SUPERMAN. Conventional weapons will be ineffective; retreat immediately if the wall is broken or punctured.**

 **UPDATE:** PROJECT DOOMSDAY is to receive biological components from PROJECT SUPERMAN. Genome editing is to be done as covertly as possible.

"I never really was one to weary caution when I don't even know the threat." Cell said to himself while walking back to the wall. He opened his hand.

Cell hesitated. The being inside that wall is certainly stronger than him. Absorbing this Doomsday wouldn't be a cakewalk, but at least it would be easier than absorbing Superman.

After assuring himself, he charged his energy ball. He could feel the presence of someone while he did so. After a while of faking he was charging it, he dissipated it.

"Black Adam, I take it?" Cell said while he looked at him at the corner of his eye.

"I can't tell if you're Shazam or Adam in this bad lighting."

"I've come to stop you," Adam said, taking a step forward into the light.

"So you are Black Adam." Cell said confidently. Adam continued to walk closer, his fists balled up.

"But unfortunately, you're far too late."

Cell was about to throw an energy ball into the wall before another figure appeared behind Black Adam. The crimson red part of the costume almost made Cell thought it was Superman, but the lighting made him able to discern it was Shazam.

"Adam!"

"The boy!"

"Oh, brother…"

Before they could fight, Cell pushed the energy ball into the wall, causing it to collapse and break the wall into pieces. A thick fume of gray sedative gas hammered the three, making it impossible for Cell to see his prize. Slowly, a large, dark silhouette arisen from the smoke. Two red eyes appeared from the smoke, staring directly at Cell. The beast made a thunderous roar, one that could be heard from as far as where Trunks is.

The smoke disappeared to reveal Doomsday reaching towards Cell with his massive body.

 **"KILL CELL!"**

* * *

The battle topside was becoming increasingly tenser. Many worried from the roar they heard earlier that Cell managed to get what he wanted.

Flash and Zoom raced across the city several times over in less than a second. Red streaks trailed their bodies as they ran in a union. They were building momentum before they land the first punch, one that will likely knock out the other.

"Great speed Wally, you almost can match mine." Zoom boasted during the few seconds they ran.

"Too bad yours is fake."

The two broke union and separated to the two ends of the city. The ran straight through the middle, meeting at the dead center of the city. They collided, making a powerful shockwave that destroyed the ground around them.

Above them, Electro-Man and Green Lantern fought Martian Manhunter. While Hal Jordan gunned the Martian down with a lightly constructed machine gun, Electro-Man shot several electric bullets. They aren't nearly as impactful as the bullets, but the stun effect it gives can at least help out. Martian Manhunter was struck by one of these, stalling enough for Green Lantern to adjust his aim and shoot directly at Manhunter. The result was Manhunter being blown a mile away from the impact.

"Good aim." Green Lantern said as he flew towards Manhunter. A month ago, Electro-Man would've died just hearing the Lantern talk to him.

Superman and Wonder Woman were back to back when Gorilla Grodd and Amazo pounced on them. Amazo pushed past Grodd's sluggish ape run and hungrily fought the two alone. Amazo traded blows with the two strongest superheroes while taking their powers at the same time. Wonder Woman was about to land a blow to his weak spot when Grodd lunged at her. He smashed her to the ground, and in an animalistic rage, bore his fists into her several times. Before she could retaliate, he brought her close to his face.

"Fool! Your own mind will be your undoing..."

Wonder Woman felt her body slip into an odd numbness, one that made her powerless to fight back. She tried to punch the gorilla, but her fist only slowly brushed his cheek.

"And now," Grodd raised his fist up. "The- "

An explosion erupted from Luthor's headquarters. Two figures lurched out from the dust the explosion, followed by two who flew out and into the sky. The two figures in the sky watched as the two figures below fought each other. When the dust cleared, Doomsday picked up Cell's mangled and unconscious body and threw him to the sun. He roared with a feeling of victory, turning his attention to the many beings around him.

"So that's what Cell looked like," Grodd mumbled. He drove his fist into the ground, believing that it was the Amazon's flesh.

Once he realized Wonder Woman was long gone, he spat out a curse and ran to help out Amazo. Shazam and Black Adam were still watching Doomsday's movements in the sky and waited to see if he might attack them or their respective allies. Doomsday's body radiated a green glow. His skin had a more greenish tint than his original design, with his eyes redder and his body overall larger and more beast like. After a few seconds passed, Adam and Shazam glanced at each other before realizing they were literally a yard away. They attacked one another at a picosecond's notice.

Luthor and Batman watched the entire fight a short distance away, atop one of the last buildings left standing.

"So this is your finished experiment." Batman said, still sore from the punch Superman gave him.

They watched as Doomsday frantically looked for the only other thing he's designed to kill.

"You knew that this was going to happen, didn't you,"

"Yes, but I have my reasoning."

Luthor and Batman watched as Doomsday turned his attention to Superman.

 **"I kill... you... Kal...El!"**

"Why? Why create such a risk just to stop Cell?" Batman's tone became angrier.

"Like I said, I have my plans. Did you honestly expect me to blindly follow yours when you never even told me them?"

Doomsday rushed past Amazo and Gorilla Grodd and pile drove Superman into the ground. Grodd and Amazo stared dumbfounded at the display of raw strength.

"You'll just have to trust me."

There was something disheartening that Batman felt in his words.

* * *

For Trunks, the rain that poured on his face was exactly what he needed. It washed away the blood on his knuckles and face. Below him, Superboy and Wonder Girl lied unconscious on the dirt. They didn't go out without a fight though, which was why things had to turn bloody. Not that Trunks wasn't distressed by it. With a huff, he reverted to his normal form.

"So what do we do know?"

Trunks turned towards Supergirl. Though she looked confident and strong enough, she was frightened of herself that she actually helped beat her own friends. It was way easier for Trunks since he hardly knew them, but Supergirl had befriended them for years. But what's done is done.

"We move steadily. Conserve energy, y'know."

"..."

Trunks started to fly away, but he stopped dead in his tracks. The guilt was too much to bear.

"I can't even imagine what you must be feeling right now. I'm sorry that I dragged you into this, but we have to keep moving. Who knows what's happening over there."

When no response came, Trunks started to fly off on his own. Supergirl followed behind him, but not without gazing at the bodies of her friends one last time. Something told her that they just spared them from going through a lot worse.

* * *

Fortunately for Cell, Doomsday didn't actually throw him into the sun.

Cell's body lied on the street in a pit of his own purplish blood. Most of his right arm was missing, as well as a chunk of his crown like head. There were so many bruises in his body that it ached him to breathe or even regenerate. He coughed up a bad batch of blood lodged in his throat.

He can remember the many battles and massacres he involved himself in through the months he took residence in this universe, as both the perspective of the victim and the predator. He even remembered the first time he met Superman, his worst enemy. There's just something about that name now that brings out his hate. Unlike everyone else he fought, he was the only one that held back his power, he could tell. Every hit he felt from that man felt repressed, like there was a much larger force just waiting to be used. Even when he was angry he didn't use all his power. Because of that, he doesn't even care if he loses to him. He wants to see his full power more than he wants to see Goku's.

Minutes pass. His body returned to a much healthier state, cleaning up his skin and restoring his arm and crown. He could hear the sounds of the battle going on like whispers. Once was able to get up and check his surroundings, he realized that he was far from it. In fact, he wasn't even in the city anymore, just some grasslands nearby.

While he stood and heard the battle far away, Cell made the widest, craziest, most villainous smile he ever made in his life. A good thought popped in his head.

"Perfect…"

* * *

 **"KILL SUPERMAN!"**

Doomsday pounded on Superman dozens of times, giving him no chance of respite or breath. Wonder Woman was a decent distance away from the beating, still dazed from the effects of Grodd's telepathy. Pain's never stopped her from saving someone. She blindly rushed to Superman's aid. When Amazo saw her approach, he raised his fists in defense. She gave him her all, hitting him so hard that he created a tunnel down the Earth's surface. She looked at Grodd, who raised his arms up in surrender.

A short trek away, a certain billionaire gave the middle finger to a certain gorilla.

Wonder Woman rushed to Superman's side. She used the element of surprise and grabbed Doomsday from behind, gripping his arms tight. Superman stumbled up and used heat-vision to blow his head off. His head was still entirely intact despite a ground zero blow, minus a few burn marks here and there. Doomsday threw Wonder Woman off her back and into the unexpected arms of Superman, while he pounded them both into the ground.

Once they both were planted firmly in the ground, he plucked them both like seeds. Wonder Woman was knocked unconscious, but Superman still had life left in him. Doomsday flung Wonder Woman away while throwing Superman into the air. He spiraled for a bit before taking the brunt of Doomsday's fist. What Doomsday didn't account for though, was the amount of strength Superman still had left. Not only was his fist countered, but he was met with one of Superman's fists, causing him to soar over a mile away.

Superman flew to Wonder Woman, where her body lied unconscious and a bloody mess. There was a certain disconnect he felt while looking at her. Normally, he would be feeling anger and hurt, but now it's all gone. Only an unbridled fury is his drive, but he'll ignore it for now. He scoped the city around him.

Shazam and Black Adam were fighting evenly, with Adam slowly gaining the upper hand. The ruthlessness of his attacks put Shazam on the defensive far more than Adam. To the far right of that battle Manhunter had to deal with both Green Lantern, Electro-Man, and Aquaman. Grodd could do nothing to help as he was incapacitated by Aquaman earlier. While Martian Manhunter is a formidable opponent since he's on par with Wonder Woman, it's only a matter of time before he's out of breath and becomes intangible to escape. Zoom and Flash were fighting across the city relatively evenly too, zipping across the city a couple times over before exchanging blows. Flash's use of the speed force unlike Zoom is what's giving him a better edge.

To his far left though, just at the corner of his eye was none other than Luthor and Batman, watching the battles around them too. A seething rage took over his mind. As he almost unconsciously flew towards them, Luthor pointed at something in the sky, something that caused Batman's eyes to widen. It was doomsday, who roared as he flung himself dead at Superman. The result was an explosion bigger than any done that day.

Superman felt dazed again. His body was pinned to the ground, so any form of escape would be rather difficult. He tried punching at the beast, but he hardly felt it. He retaliated though with a massive blow to the face, almost breaking his neck and splattering blood across the street. One came after another, blurring his vision and battering his body. After a while, he was sure he was going to die. Everything became slower. Batman's eyes were still widened, staring dead at Superman. Despite Luthor trying to keep him at bay, Batman ran towards him. Trunks and Supergirl entered his vision and also looked distressed, Supergirl especially. They both flew to Superman's aid. But there was something else too.

Luthor started to smile, running in Cell's direction. Everyone's eyes turned from distressed to surprised. The pain stopped. Doomsday's stopped hitting him, his red eyes looking surprised as well. Trunks's face blistered with anger, brandishing his sword out and attacking something behind Doomsday. He was about to connect before Luthor took out something of his own, some small dart that pierced Trunks's skin. A strong cast of electricity erupted throughout his body, causing him fly away and spasm in pain.

Doomsday started to look a bit _off._ Once a body that used to tower above him a minute earlier now appeared to be malnourished and weak. Doomsday cried out in a fit of pain before moving away from most of Superman's peripheral vision. Behind him, was Cell. He had the same smile as Luthor whilst everyone else watched in horror. Doomsday let out one last bloodcurdling yell before disappearing altogether. Only Cell remained, and he looked much more vibrant than ever.

Batman beat Luthor to the ground. A force carried Superman away. He could barely move his neck, but he could tell by her presence that it was Supergirl. Batman was near him too, being carried off by Trunks. They all landed towards the cluster of super villains and heroes. The same people that were fighting each other minutes ago now watched Cell glow an aqua-green hue. Their mutual enemy and the fear he brought made the opposing parties go back to the reason why they came in the first place.

Reality went back to its normal speed. Cell's body was bulking, his muscles growing to a massive mass. Superman could hear Cell blurt cries of joy as a glowing sphere appeared and grew around him. Luthor was nearby Cell when this happened, the ground around him nearly collapsed before he used his jetpack to escape. He too harbored a similar looking smile, odd enough. The clouds stopped raining and turned almost pitch black, with thick, black clouds moving in to replace them.

A new, distinct force banged on Superman's heart. Guilt, a lot of it. Batman felt the same thing too. The consequences of their war has been become reality. He would give everything to right this wrong, everything he has to stop Supergirl from looking so scared. Batman dropped to his knees, banging his head on the ground. While Superman looked at the assortment of different faces though, Trunks had one most different to everyone else. His face screamed anger and determination. He flew from the group and yelled a war cry, transforming into a Super Saiyan.

Superman hung his head low. He knew Trunks would fail.

Trunks took one fist and plunged it into the massive sphere that surrounded Cell. Cell himself was shrouded in this greenish sphere, but that didn't dare deter Trunks. He gave it his all, pushing his energy to the limit and beyond. The closer Cell's figure got, the more determined he became. The figure within the sphere wasn't going easy though. It roared a thunderous roar, blasting Trunks away with just the mere electricity the sphere conducted. His efforts were ultimately pointless.

"I can't fail! _I won't fail!_ "

Trunks locked his arms in place, switching and turning his hands around as fast as he could.

"Burning attack!"

He pushed a sparkling orange orb into the green sphere. The orb penetrated the sphere, coming close to Cell before being closed in and broken apart. Trunks turned back to the group behind him.

"Guys! Help me! We can beat him if we attack together!"

Trunks let out dozens and dozens more energy blasts, each making absolutely no impact. The green sphere only became larger, large enough to blow Trunks away by the overflowing energy. The young Saiyan was flung right back to group. They looked at him with such despondence that he didn't even try to get back up.

Cell's power could be felt everywhere, from the massive waves of the Earth's oceans, to the tremors and small earthquakes that just magically began. All around the world people screamed in terror and fear for what might come next. Some interpreted it as their God's beginning of the end. Others tried to pinpoint the problem to a particular person, such as that new Cell villain terrorizing the United States.

Even the watchtower suffered the effects of Cell's transformation. The tower shook violently, its small crew cowering to the floor. Bulma was forced to hide under her desk during this quake. She had her own personal curses she silently gave to Batman and Superman.

Eventually though, the sphere slowly disappeared. In enveloped upon himself into a blinding blue glow that traced around Cell's body. The sky cleared from the threatening clouds, leaving it looking daytime despite being late at night. The tremors ceased, relieving billions. They knew nothing of what truly caused the tremors, nor what just might happen next.

The glow disappeared from Cell's body. He looked unrecognizable, appearing as a smaller, pale-skinned being that looked like it wore the last Cell like a fur coat. Two bug shell like wings covered his now retracted tail. His demeanor was rather calm and collective. He planted his feet to the ground, flexing his biceps and chest. Once he was done testing out his new body, he grinned at all the super villains and heroes before him.

Perfection has finally arrived.

* * *

YES! **YEESSSSSS!** Our lord and destroyer has arrived! Things are about to get FAR more interesting. Yes, I know that I'm a bit late, and yes, I'm sorry. I actually finished the story on the 1st of June, but I wanted to keep tinkering the story until it was like Cell—perfect. What I gave you just might be the best chapter I've ever made, or at least it felt like it is. Hope you enjoyed it!

ITS OVER **9000 WORDS! AAAAGHHH!** 23 pages in Word!

Since it's summer and I have hardly anything to do, I'll shoot for **June the 20th (yes, this is a silent update... ssshhhh...)**. But I feel soooo uppity about this chapter that I might even make it sooner! So yay for everyone! Next chapter will also include an updated power level listing, so stay tuned for that.

UPDATE: I just noticed that I've been making this story for a year now. It's weird knowing that I was creating my first chapter of this story a year ago. So much as changed since then, including my writing. I now have a new drive to keep this story going until the end!


	10. Manifest Destiny

Disclaimer: I own neither **Dragon Ball** or **DC Comics.**

* * *

The being that resided beyond the known universe smiled. The barrier the source wall placed on him isn't what you think it is. While he was technically just a permanent piece on the source wall, certain circumstances allowed his mind to separate from his body. Through the cracks that are rapidly expanding from his mind's barrier, he can do so many things. Fortunately for him, though, he doesn't have to do anything to get out of his barrier. Trunks and Cell are doing all the work for him.

* * *

Bulma slumped down on her chair. She watched with broken eyes the satellite video feed. She inhaled and exhaled deeply in an attempt to calm herself. When that didn't work, she cursed Batman and Superman again.

Bulma's perceived thoughts of the final transformation were far off. She expected a hulking monster, one that made everyone else look like ants in comparison. Instead, this being looked slender. On just appearance alone, he looked as if he got even _weaker._ His presentation does look more human, though. The human-like sculpt of his face, and the insectoid like body makes him overall very different. The only problem now is to find how strong is he.

Bulma can hear chattering outside the lab. Superheroes that were in the watchtower during Cell's transformation were awed at the tremors they felt. Although most were unaware of what caused the ''earthquakes'', those like Booster Gold who understood the situation somewhat explained it to who they can.

"It's Cell I tell ya," Gold stated, waving his arms around as he explained. "Not sure he's done something like this before… but it's him!"

"Yeah, right," Super-Chief chillingly replied. "Most people don't even think he's that strong. He got his ass whooped by every senior member at least once."

"I can't argue with that, but what do you think caused those tremors then?"

"Spacequake? The hell if I know."

Bulma turned her attention from the conversations to the video feed. Even if there is only a slim chance that they may be able to win, perhaps…

* * *

A chilling breeze swept across Metropolis. Though Cell's man-made clouds dissipated, the natural ones that replaced them weren't that friendly either.

Batman couldn't tell if it was the breeze or just Cell's vibe that gave him goosebumps. Judging by the looks of everyone else, he wasn't the only one feeling this either. Even Superman's morale weighed down from the mere presence of Cell. Only Trunks persevered.

Trunks has endured so much not to keep fighting. So many people in his universe died fighting for the same cause. Gohan, his master, died battling the same androids everyone else died trying to fight against. But no matter what happened, he continued to stay strong. When he lost his arm and decided to attack the androids with Trunks's help, he remained determined. Trunks wanted- needed that fire for so long. Now he has it.

Trunks transformed back into a Super Saiyan and unsheathed his blade.

 **"CEEEEELLLL!"**

While Trunks made his charge, Cell was still admiring his new body. He could feel his newfound power pulsating through his body. His strength was multipliers above his Semi-Perfect stage. This new power made him eager to try it on something, preferably someone. Trunks's proximity to him made him too valuable to pass up.

With one hand, Cell pushed out an airwave that effortlessly blew Trunks away. The Saiyan-hybrid got up as fast as he could and continued his charge. Cell did the same thing again, but Trunks stood his ground this time. His steps dramatically slowed down as he flew with all his might. When Trunks got close enough, he fired an energy blast at point blank range.

Trunks readied his sword and threw himself in amidst the smoke. Everyone else only saw one slight shadow make two kicks, which blew Trunks away. Trunks lied on the ground nearly unconscious. His body barely withstood even the first kick.

"That strength…" Batman gasped. He was one of the few too weak even to see Cell's attack, but even he could feel that power.

Cell poised his hand towards a defeated Trunks.

 _I could just kill Trunks right—no. He's a reminder of where I came from._

"Hera…" Wonder Woman mumbled while examining Trunks's body. She carefully flew him back to the group.

There was something odd with this new body. While it was good, perfect even, he still didn't feel... _complete._ Something was missing that he doubted even Dr. Gero would know. Every member grew cautious as he hovered closer and closer to them. The frightened look in each of their eyes would usually make him smile, but not now.

While staring at the faces of his enemies, one thought, designed to help fill this hole he feels, just might do the trick.

 _Maybe a display of dominance should be in order._

"Now," Cell exclaimed, planting his feet on the street. "I have a proposition."

"If Superman defeats me in a duel, I'll leave the Earth as is and never return. Perhaps I'll go to my universe if I please."

"And if he loses?" Martian Manhunter replied, still weary of Cell's every movement. Not that he could do anything to stop him.

"I'll slaughter the lot of you. When I finish, I'll murder every Earthling alive before I just blow up the planet."

The casual way Cell spoke gave everyone chills. Would he go out of his way to kill everyone like that? Someone has to do something.

"I accept," Superman said, literally rising to the occasion.

Ideologies don't matter anymore. Even villains frightened as they may be, stand next to Superman. It invigorated him. It makes him proud to be a hero, bringing the weight of the world on him. He's shouldered this weight all his life to the point of him not even feeling it anymore.

"Wait!"

Everyone, even Cell rushed over to see Luthor rush in with a device in his hand. The look in his eye alone makes him look like he's out for blood from more than just one person.

"I have it! What we need! Everyone j-just stay calm…"

Luthor's mind was all over the place. Not only was he frightened to be next to all these powerful beings, but if he fails, he'll be dead for sure.

"I'm going to save us all!"

"Just what are you planning, Luthor?" Batman questioned while glaring at him.

"Can't see this device in my hand? Just a press of a button will activate the bombs in Cell and blow him from the inside!"

"While killing us in the process?" Hal Jordan replied frantically.

"It has to be done for everyone! We'll be heroes! Martyrs!"

"Since when did you care about that?"

Luthor pressed the button before anyone else can protest. A period of frantic thinking happened next, with everyone dazed at just what might happen a second later. As time went on, however, nothing happened. No bomb exploded. Cell watched this entire ordeal with his arms folded in discontent.

"You're a fool, Luthor," Cell began.

"Whatever bomb you might have put in Doomsday or C-19 as a failsafe measure won't work. I'm sure my body would have filtered something as deadly as that. But before I kill you Luthor, I'd like you to know how good you were to me. You sent me C-19 _and_ Doomsday, the only reasons I transformed twice in the first place. Thank you."

Cell turned to Luthor and placed his hand over his head. Cell imagined a clean shot to wipe Luthor's skull clean off, but to his surprise, nothing shot out of his hand. In fact, he couldn't even move his body. He tried helplessly to advance but failed at every corner. Cell's muscles were pulsating as strong as possible to break these invisible bonds.

Suddenly, Cell's body started to become blue. It was only in his hands and only the shell-like part of his body, but still. The group watched as Cell's body turned to a complete light shade of blue.

His demeanor changed. Instead of a calm, jaded, yet collective attitude, his entire demeanor was blank, submissive even. Luthor was the first to realize that C-19 is back.

"C-19!"

Luthor was just about ready to hug the creature. When he tried to, C-19 placed his hand between them.

"There are several hostiles in your way. Shall I kill them for you?"

Luthor's demeanor changed from a crazed frenzy to a smugness that put everyone back on the cautious side.

"What are you thinking now? You're going to kill us because you think you have the upper hand?" Superman said, floating towards the two.

"This is your last mistake Luthor! I always knew you'll betray the Legion at one point!"

Wonder Girl paused at Grodd's comment. It reminded her of the same thing she said earlier to Trunks.

Gorilla Grodd stampeded over to C-19 and fired a continuous ray from a device of his own. One meant to transfer the strength of the victim to him. The device had ultimately no effect; C-19 was so powerful he overloaded the device. C-19 flicked Grodd away with his finger, knocking him out in a similar way Cell did to Trunks earlier.

"Before you all go apeshit like that gorilla; I have a proposition. I'll allow you all to live if I get a permanent pardon from all crimes I'll commit, as well as 50 billion dollars to cover up damage costs from when Cell destroyed my headquarters. And when _I'm_ done, I guess I'll leave crime for a time. Sip wine in my mansion in Texas, ya know?"

When Luthor realized no one agreed to his demands, he pointed to his left, where his destroyed headquarters lied in ruin.

"Do you guys see this pile of shit? That used to look good! I need that 50 billion! …Or… at least 25 billion. Please."

"You're insane. Even for the greater good I should've never joined you."

"Likewise bats," Luthor said with a smirk. "I made C-19 on my own. Our project Doomsday might have been stronger at the time, but things change. We were equals yesterday… now you're under my boot."

Luthor turned to C-19 for confirmation that his sarcasm played out well. He promptly realized that he can't get that kind of help from an emotionless being.

"Our answer is a resounding no." Superman firmly placed his feet on the ground, dividing C-19 from the group.

"Then I'll just have C-19 kill you. But before you die Supes, just know that I'm gonna cherish this moment forever."

Luthor and the group gave the two the space they needed. While the stakes are much more different, Superman's impending battle with Cell pretty much continued through C-19. Even C-19 wanted this fight, a wish that Cell passed on to him. Once Superman and C-19 became combat ready, they dashed at each other at light speeds. The red and blue hero placed one hard punch into C-19's abdomen, causing the creation to stagger midflight and spasm. Blood needlessly poured out of its mouth.

Superman watched as C-19's muscles tensed for seemingly no reason. Every fiber of its body pulsated while a bit of green started to appear from his crown. This color quickly began to take dominance. C-19 no longer had control of movement, and soon enough, the entire body.

The green color covered his entire body, save for the white skin underneath the bug-like shell. This new Cell had such a cocky demeanor that everyone knew who was in control now.

"This reminds me so much of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde…" Flash said to no one in particular.

"Right?" Zoom replied. Flash's eyes widened. That was the first time the two ever talked without trying to kill each other.

"NO! NO! What happened to C-19? My C-19? Dammit! It was a foolproof plan!"

Without much thought, Cell pulsed out an airwave that sent a crying Luthor flying before he even realized it, crashing him into a ruined building. Its weak support collapsed on him the moment he made contract with it.

"Okay... the hell just happened?" Flash said. He was puzzled ever since Cell turned blue.

"I haven't the slight clue," Green Lantern replied back.

"That was interesting." Cell remarked. He flexed his body around to see if he had full control. A wave of information C-19 retained in his cells finally given to Cell. At last, he understood just what exactly was his imposter.

"The fact that I'm in control of the body is irrelevant. However, it seems that there was a man named Dr. Nero that created C-19, not this Luthor. He shares some impeccable similarities to Dr. Gero indeed."

Although Cell didn't think too much about it, Trunks did. Is it just mere coincidence that this Dr. Nero created C-19 to have almost the same features as Cell? He'll have to consult his mom with this. After a short while, though, Cell he reverted his attention back to the proposition he made for Superman earlier.

"Ready?"

Superman nodded a yes. Although they were already a short distance away from the group, Cell urged Superman over a far distance away from the group. Not that he cares for their safety, but he knows Superman will. He wants Superman to go all out, a dream of his even before he became perfect. This vision supersedes even his biological want to fight Goku.

Cell and Superman stood next to each other in a practically bare area. The grass, the only thing surrounding them, has withered and died, making the area different from the rest of the destroyed city.

While Cell and Superman stood there, everyone else watched them with anticipation. Those bold enough like Wonder Girl got closer for a better look.

Cell wasn't the only one eager to fight. It's exceedingly rare for Superman ever to fight at his fullest. Even with the stakes at its highest, he couldn't help but embellish himself in vigor and excitement.

"Ding."

Superman soared in, beating Cell away with a single hit. He rushed towards the flying Cell and attacked him at maximum power. Cell downed in a few hits, his face resting flat on the ground. Superman rushed in again, deflecting some of the bio- android's punches before succumbing to the sheer amount of them. He was beaten back so severely that he coughed up blood. Cell's onslaught drew to a close when Superman caught the next round of fists, sending some of his own. When the two stopped to take a breath, Superman smiled.

"I've had this problem Cell that you just might've fixed."

Superman started to walk towards Cell with gusto, the latter looking apparently surprised. He didn't expect the Kryptonian to maintain such composure after the beating he gave him.

"I feel like I live in a world made of cardboard, always taking constant care not to break something, to break someone. I can't allow myself to lose control, even a moment, or someone could die."

Cell tried to throw a fist at him, but the hero quickly caught it, as he grabbed his face and tussled him to the ground. Cell decided to look relatively unfazed like Superman did, but the pain was just too much to bare.

"But you can take it, can't ya big man?"

Cell growled.

"What we have here is a rare opportunity for me to cut loose, and show you just how powerful I really am."

Superman flew over to Cell before he could even realize it and punched him as hard as he could. Its powerful vibrations alone made the group of supervillains and heroes stumble to the ground. Cell was flung miles away across the sky. Once Superman reached him, he cupped his hands and slammed him headfirst into the ground. An absurd amount of smoke and debris piled up in Cell's massive crater.

Superman hovered in closer to Cell's crater. Cell was damaged extensively, with purple blood dripping down his lips and across his body. He almost felt sorry for hitting Cell that hard.

"Had enough?"

Cell grunted, forcing his body up to face Superman. His teeth were clenched, and yet underneath, a smile. He couldn't hold it in any longer. The Android grinned a cocky grin, one that angered Superman.

"Not... quite."

Superman raised his eyebrows while watching Cell laughably try and get up. Once he did, however, he was able to move around quite quickly.

"Did you honestly think _I_ would make it that easy?"

"Huh?"

A bright, golden aura erupted across Cell's body. Cell powered up to an extremity, blowing away everything in his sight. The group, now much closer to be able to see the fight, watched with freight as Cell's power began to multiply.

"So he was playing with him the whole time?" Wonder Woman said while watching Cell.

Trunks, who recently awoke following his short duel with Cell, looked at Cell through his scouter. The calculations it gave him proved his and Wonder Woman's suspicions.

"Makes sense. When I fought Cell, his strength felt so repressing that it was ridiculous for me to try."

Cell's aura disappeared from his body, his charge complete. Trunks's scouter blew up the moment he decided to read Cell's current power.

While everyone else cowered at Cell's power, Superman, oblivious to just how strong Cell became, continued to fight with high spirit. The world still depended on this battle, even if Cell had some strength hidden.

Superman charged in heat vision. Cell effortlessly dodged each barrage of beams that came his way. When Superman approached him and tried to attack him, Cell dodged them so swiftly that he even had laughed in between hits. Superman continued to work his hardest no matter what. Whenever Cell laughed or deflected his attacks with seemingly no effort, he thought of his family. Superman thought of Lois and the thought of finally going home after the battle. He could imagine holding her in her arms for the first time in half a year. He'll have a big feast to celebrate the League's victory, following with him checking on Lois for her ultrasound.

Reality hit him hard when Cell smashed his jaw. His home is gone because of him. His family and friends might not even be alive because of him. He might not see Lois again because of him. He can't even make her pregnant. He had the chance to succeed the time, but he blew it.

Cell threw Superman's beaten body on the street, good enough for everyone to see. Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and Aquaman all tried to step in where Superman fell but were all blown back by Cell's hand airwave.

Superman's face broke into near disfigurement, with his jaw broken and blood plastered across it like icing on a cake. His body bruised to the point of almost being unrecognizable. Even his cape burnt to a half. Despite all of these injuries, Superman got up again.

The first few tries were wildly unsuccessful, each time resulting in him stumbling to the ground. It took him a while for him to be sure he wouldn't just fall again.

"I almost forgot you were there. Still trying to play hero are we?"

Superman spat blood on the ground and beat his chest. His left eye was swollen shut, lightly masked by his mattered black hair. Superman punched Cell over and over again, each strike loud enough to be heard by the group. They all looked at Cell and noticed that it didn't even faze him. Cell grabbed Superman's arms and squeezed them until they broke. He happily went to beat down Superman again, this time with much more ferocity and vigor.

Cell looked at Superman distastefully before kicking him to the sky. He managed to go as high as the beginning of the troposphere before Cell appeared behind him and elbowed him. Time seemingly slowed, while Superman's lungs were exhausted of all the spit it had in him. The pain the man of steel felt at this moment made Cell grin, but not for long. Superman uncontrollably flew to the ground, his body splayed in his crater. Cell watched Superman as all the fight in him disappeared in a moment. While he thought he would be ecstatic, he still feels empty.

 _I should be feeling satisfied. I defeated the man who bested me at every step of the way, and yet I still feel unsatisfied? It's like something's missing despite being complete…_

Cell turned to face the petrified superheroes and villains. If Superman was defeated, what chance do they possibly have even _if_ they attacked together?

 _Perhaps this will cheer me up._

"Superman failed." Cell stated, raising his index finger at the posy of targets.

"Now you will all die."

His first strike was on the ground. The impact created enough smoke to cover the area so that it's hard for even him to see. All according to plan. Cell began to fire indiscriminately everywhere. Flash was the first to be on a direct path as one of the beams. He narrowly dodged it, brushing just past his shoulders. He dodged two more before looking to his back to see where the beams landed. His eyes widen, he watched Zoom take the brunt of a beam into his head. It made him sick. He was just about ready to vomit when he had to dodge another beam.

Batman was next. Lucky enough, Wonder Woman was right next to him and deflect the beam with her bracelets. The beam whizzed off course to the right before exploding.

Hal Jordan had just about enough time to construct instinctively a half-shield that protected him as well as Grodd, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, and Electro-Man. Fear, and the chaos and confusion Cell brought by creating all this smoke not only disorientated Hal but made him lose concentration. A few more direct hits dissipated the shield entirely. Green Lantern barely had time even to breathe before one beam shot straight to his heart. Aquaman was right behind him, taking some of that beam himself, although fortunately not hitting any vital parts. The rest scattered like ants.

Electro-Man as a human was too slow to dodge anything. Unlike Batman, who had someone by his side, no one was able to help him when a massive beam bore into his chest. He was dead before he even had the chance smile. He may not have avenged his uncle, but at least he'll get to see him again. The young man fell on the ground with a thud, breathing his last few breaths while blood endlessly poured from his chest. The smoke turned pitch black. In the far distance, he could see something. He could see a white light, with a man that looked much like his uncle reaching for him. If only he could reach him…

Trunks was able to deflect the beam away with his blade, protecting him and Wonder Girl. Superboy, Supergirl, Shazam, and Black Adam all had fast enough reaction times to blast the beams before they could reach them, preemptively exploding them. Flash wanted just to break and escape the madness, but he just couldn't. The fear took precedence over his mind and everyone else's. He could only lie flat on the ground and pray that a beam doesn't come flying for him.

After a minute of this agony, a voice rang from the madness. It was Batman, who yelled loud enough for everyone to hear.

"STOP!"

Despite his better judgment, Cell ceased to fire. He didn't have much better to do anyway. Batman waited for the smoke to clear before conversing with the mass murderer.

"You want to fight strong opponents, right? Is that what you want?" Batman said almost hysterically.

Cell crossed his arms. It wouldn't be a stretch to say he was a bit interested.

"The whole universe is filled with beings even stronger than Superman, miles above even!"

Cell looked at Batman point to the sky with awe. Despite absorbing so many people, his knowledge of the outer space abroad is very limited. Only heroes he absorbed like Cyborg have some pieces of useful information, which in itself is very limited and hazy to think about.

"Please, spare the Earth."

Cell's eyes widened with glee. He can see it now. He will venture across the cosmos to fight the greatest beings alive. He will defeat them all, proving as the greatest creation this universe has ever seen. He will fight gods and monsters, bring star systems and galactic tyrants to their knees. Yes, he will show them all their place. All will fear his might. Some might even throw their lives away just to get absorbed into his collective.

"I beg you." Batman was on his knees, ready to cry. Cell hardly even noticed the man. He begrudgingly ceased his pondering for a moment to tend to the weaklings before him.

"Fine." Cell sheepishly replied, putting his hands on his hips.

The bio-android honestly didn't care about the Earth anymore. Still, he'll allow the Earth to exist because of the revelation Batman gave him. He's done enough to them. Even Cell was surprised at how utterly broken and defeated everyone looked. There wasn't an iota of fear in them anymore.

"I'll allow the Earth to exist because I'll be preoccupied battling gods somewhere. After every worthy foe is defeated, I'll come back to fight you all again. Consider this as round one."

After giving a wave, Cell whizzed away in the sky, eager to fight all new enemies. The hole in him as finally been fulfilled. Since Goku didn't exist in this universe, Cell thought that Superman might as well be a substitute, even though that didn't work. This new goal he has, though, this destiny, is the new master plan of his design.

 _Cell, killer of gods. Destroyer of men. The bane of the universe. Fear and death personified. Oh, I am going to love this..._

Cell reached outer space. Since he had no idea where he was going, he flew off into space in a random direction.

His greatest quest has begun.

* * *

 ** _3 Weeks later…_**

"Cyborg, Green Lantern, Electro-Man, Geo-Force, Adam Strange, Captain Atom. Their real names are Victor Stone, Hal Jordan, Jimmy Decan, Brion Markov, Adam Strange, and Nathaniel Christopher Adam respectively. They were heroes, excellent ones, despite what Captain Atom would want you to think. They were there to protect the people when Cell attacked. Had they not intervened with their lives, thousands would have died in their place. It's people like these five that will remind you what it means to be a real hero. It doesn't matter how strong you are, or how strong are you compared to some arbitrary villain. While some of the people in these statues are stronger than others, what makes them, all the same, is their selfless acts. They are the reason we are here today."

Superman walked out of the way for everyone to have a clear view of the curtains. The curtains were removed, revealing the golden statues of all five heroes. The crowd of citizens cheered. Electro-Man's parents cheered the loudest, tears streaking down their faces. One person admist the mass smiled at the statues, his assistant moving his wheelchair so that they can get out of there. Superman walked deeper into the hall of justice to see much more tourists gawking at the souvenirs from past enemies. With the Watchtower as their headquarters, the hall of justice was more of a museum or backup offices.

Out of the many superheroes that came to see the grand unveiling, him, Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman were the only senior superheroes to go. Flash wanted to take a break from being a superhero. He wasn't seen since. Batman hasn't outright disappeared at after the battle in Metropolis. After Cell had left, Batman called for his Bat-plane and left.

Superman looked at Trunks observing a boom box on display that Darkseid used to invade the Earth at a speedy fashion. Superman chuckled when he remembered that the boom box he was looking at was a fake, the real one being tested on by Bulma to try and make it work again.

Superman nodded and Trunks, which he did the same. After Trunks and Bulma had decided to stay for the long haul, Trunks was inducted into the League as a part-time member. In between break days of consistently training for Cell's reemergence, he'll defeat a few villains acting up around the world. He's been hanging out with Supergirl and her posy ever since.

The blue and red caped hero paced back to the six new statues. He saw one Green Lantern in particular look at Hal Jordan's statue with interest. This new Lantern looked much more intimidating than Hal, yet younger and stoic looking. Superman quietly walked beside the new League recruit.

"I see you're admiring his statue John." He said, extending his hand out.

"A pleasure to meet you, Superman." John shook the hand warmly. Superman wasn't pleased.

"How did he die?"

"He died protecting his comrades." Superman began, folding his arms on his back.

"Hal shielded several League members while Cell's attack was bombarding us. When he couldn't keep up his guard, he was pierced in the heart."

"It's this Cell I always keep hearing of. Who is he?"

"He came from a different universe, murdering tens of thousands. The League failed so many times to beat him because we didn't know what to do with a mass murderer. It's a mistake I damn well won't make again.

"I see."

While the two had a meaningful conversation, the idea of a replacement of Hal automatically made Superman dislike this new Lantern. John Stewart himself hasn't been on Earth for years, defending the other planets of sector 2814 with little ties left on Earth. He even married an alien, twice.

"I hope you know that you won't have the same senior status in the Justice League as Hal Jordan."

"I wouldn't dream of that. I want to show you guys what I am truly made of, not just a reflection of a dead man."

"That's the spirit."

"Literally."

Superman pulled out a green tinted scouter and gave it to John.

"What's this? Some induction device?"

"Just place it on your left ear, John. It's a utility instrument."

The new Green Lantern placed it and watched it automatically hum to life. Alien symbols he couldn't hope to understand despite having a ring plastered on its screen before disappearing.

"Well, this is interesting. Thank you."

Superman was about to say something else before Wonder Woman waved him down so that he can walk with her and Martian Manhunter. Superman nodded at John before walking towards the two.

"See you around."

* * *

Batman couldn't let go of the past. He couldn't let go of what he's done to Metropolis, blasting it with the watchtower's cannon just to maybe incapacitate Cell. And for what? Cell wasn't even near the explosion. People could have died. He knows this because he's been running calculations on the possibility for months, almost every day. What he has done even worse though was carrying on his ideology to the point of betrayal.

Batman sat on his supercomputer in the Batcave. Batman has extremely reclusive ever since Cell disappeared, only venturing out of his manor to keep the streets of Gotham relatively safe. He spent the rest of his time on his supercomputer, where only Alfred can enter.

One of the screens in his supercomputer had a live viewing of the Hall of Justice's grand unveiling of the statutes. It pains him so strongly to remember that most of those good men died because of him that he turned that screen off right when they removed the curtains. Batman continued to sit on his computer in silence, damning decisions he made long ago, over and over again.

"Batman?"

He looked up. The middle screen, which he completely forgot existed, was occupied by the face of Bulma. She had the broken boom box on the side of her table, jotting notes of the thing before she made any attempts to do anything to it, lest she makes an accidental portal. Cyborg had this boom box last, integrated into his mechanical body. The boom box was damaged almost beyond repair when he fought and died against Cell. Fortunately for them, they have a bored scientist on their side. She did all of this while observing Batman rifle through his emotions.

"Don't worry about me. I'm just thinking."

"Thinking about what you did?"

"…Yes."

"I understand," Bulma said while taking more notes. "But we need to get that mind of yours focused on the bigger threat. The reason why you even did what you did in the first place."

"You're right," Batman stated, sitting upright. One stiff cough brought him from his brooding state to his old dark self again.

Once Batman finished battling with his emotions, a new user invited himself into the video call. It was none other than Luthor, sporting a grin almost as big as the one he had right before Cell's body was taken over. The billionaire had his hands covering his mouth in a sophisticated like way, yet it was so that he doesn't giggle thinking about what he's just done.

He was no longer in his Texas home. He had to sell that and the laboratory beneath it in order to keep him and his business afloat. The destruction of his headquarters is starting to really ruin his company's revenue. Instead, he takes residence in one of his houses in Washington D.C., to be able to see the grand unveiling of the statues of the fallen heroes. In truth, he almost felt compelled to be there. Even though he caused a lot of trouble during Cell's rampage, he was in the fight just as much as the League.

"Found something Luthor?" Batman questioned.

"Not something, some _one_. After settling a few issues about the value of US currency in space, I arranged for Lobo to take care of Cell."

"Lobo? If Lobo's around Superman's league, how can he possibly defeat Cell?"

"Who says he has to fight? Besides, I have a plan B."

Luthor looked down on his own supercomputer's keyboard. His wheelchair was plain to see behind him. When Cell made him crash into the building, all those metric tons of building material almost crushed him outright. Most of his body was spared, but his legs weren't.

 _"_ _Luthor?" Wonder Woman yelled out, putting her hand out so she can pull him._

 _Luthor's eyes screamed of horror and agony in the rubble._

 _"_ _I can't feel my legs!"_

"There is a scientist named Dr. Nero, who real creator of C-19. Although I thought I killed him, he bribed my assassins and disappeared off the face of the Earth. If I can find him, he might be able to make C-19 dominant in Cell's body again."

"Just how the hell did you think we'll let you do that? If I remember correctly, you threatened to kill us all with him!" Batman yelled out.

"This time is different. I could've always retired from Lexcorp and sip wine from my Texas house. And when Cell's defeated, I will. No questions asked."

Although Batman could see his genuineness in his eyes, he was not ready to believe what he is saying. A villain, he and Superman, has been fighting for years just decides to give up? He could see why, though. Luthor's face was as weary as his, a side effect of the stress of trying to defeat Cell. At this point, you either truly wanted Cell defeated, or you give up. Lex is about to do the latter if these plans end up biting him in the ass.

"This Dr. Nero sounds awfully like Dr. Gero."

"Who's that?" Lex replied.

"He was a revolutionary robotics scientist in my Earth, a man that my father had the pleasure to talk to before he enlisted in the Red Ribbon Army as an engineer. When that army disbanded, and his son who also enlisted in the army died, he disappeared. He re-emerged decades later to create androids that destroyed the Earth on their 'quest' to kill a man named Goku. He was the one who created Cell, who looks a lot like C-19."

"They're the same person," Luthor said flat out.

"It does make sense. Even Trunks told me that C-19 might be correlated, but you really think so?"

"He had capsules that looked a lot like yours for starters. In his spare time, I heard that he was fixing a device that also looked a lot like your time machine."

"If you do intend to go to him, let me come with you," Bulma replied.

"Same. My bat plane is a much faster ride than your commercial ones." Batman belittled at Luthor.

"And while we do that, Lobo will be sending Cell on a suicide quest." Luthor scoffed.

Batman closed the video call. Bulma went back to her tinkering, Luthor to his plotting, and Batman on his brooding. A plethora of light years away, one lone being was destroying everything he saw.

* * *

 _Another one of those less action-y chaps!_

This chapter basically gave you what's going to happen in the next several chapters. Cell's on a conquest battling the strongest people he knows, while the League's still trying to figure out a way to silence him for good.

Since I'm making an effort to make updates bi-weekly (with updates to the older chapters every now and then), expect the next chapter **July 5** **th** (I'll have plans July 4th, independence and everything y'know).

 **UPDATE:**

 **PLEASE** **reread some of the earlier chapters.** I extensively fixed every chapter up to the 4th chapter, C-19, for better clarity, consistency, removed redundancy, and overall better writing. **I will REALLY appreciate it if you do check if those stories improved, as well as what should I improve on writing wise.**

As promised, my power list below! It's top to bottom, consisting of every person who fought in the story so far, including minor characters!

 **Note: For characters like Trunks who has gotten stronger during the story, I'm only putting characters like these at their strongest in the list.**

* * *

 **Relative Power List**

 **Perfect Cell**

 **Superman (at his strongest)**

 **Superman (edge) = Doomsday**

 **Martian Manhunter = Wonder Woman (slight edge) = Aquaman (Sea)**

 **Trunks = Black Adam**

 **Semi-Perfect Cell = Supergirl = Captain Atom ([Deceased], slight edge) = Amazo = Shazam**

 **Wonder Girl = Aquaman (Land; slight edge) = C-20**

 **Superboy**

 **Flash = Zoom = Green Lantern (Hal Jordan AND John Stewart)**

 **Imperfect Cell = C-19**

 **Batman (In batlesuit) [Surprising, no? That's because he has techniques to beat every below.]**

 **Cyborg (Deceased)**

 **Parasite (Deceased)**

 **Geo-Force (Deceased)**

 **Metallo (Deceased)**

 **Electro-Man (Deceased)**

 **Gorilla Grodd = Lex Luthor (In battle-suit)**

 **Adam Strange (Deceased)**

 **Captain Oswald from Intergang (Deceased)**


	11. Cell vs The Universe Part 1

**DISCLAIMER:** I own neither **Dragon Ball** or **DC Comics.**

 **AND ANOTHER DISCLAIMER:** Sorry for the extra two-day wait! I had the story done by the 5th as planned, but it felt so unpolished that I just couldn't publish it without feeling ashamed. I'm deeply ashamed of myself for not being able to finish my first ever deadline. Either way, your still getting a pretty damn good story!

* * *

The walls binding the being together is breaking! They thought they could contain him! They thought they could prevent nature from taking its course!

Soon enough, he will be free. Soon enough, he will be free to accomplish his goal. He will kill the Trunks, Cell, and Bulma that plague this universe. The people in this part of the multiverse might not agree, but such troublesome creatures must be killed instead of asked to leave for their insolence. If he doesn't, if he fails, a much larger problem will occur. In fact, it's already happening.

The cracks are big enough now. If he concentrated, he could let some of his influence out.

* * *

 **Cell vs The Universe, Part 1**

Only fugitives tread the darkness of deep space. Many were displaced in the milky way from their home worlds due to senseless wars or a criminal past. They become the outlaws of the galaxy, always traveling while keeping their heads low. The Green Lanterns Corps has made it one of their many duties to unveil these individuals and bring them to their respective home worlds for incarceration, but they don't even know half of their stories. Many of these people end up dying for no good reason, just because some men in green wanted to play police.

If an outcast near sector 2814 wants to stay alive, they'll have to find their way onto Outlaw's Moon, a cluster-fuck of the biggest degenerates in the cosmos.

Unlike all of the outlaws around him, Cell isn't one of them. He was sitting on a stool in the moon's most favorite bar, the Meridian. He could feel eyes staring at him at all times, usually burly aliens with gruff voices commenting about his appearance or out-of-place look. He expected this to happen, word of his achievements on Earth haven't spread out across the cosmos yet. Maybe the bartender will give him a free drink if he showed them all his real power.

"You," The bartender spoke, pointing his scaly, purple finger at Cell. He had a thick accent that was a cross-breed of a gangster in the 1930s and a pirate. "Ya barely sipped ya fucking drink. There be a shitload of people who'll drink that for ya."

"I have things to think about then to drink this concoction. Besides, I don't even know what this is." Cell brought the glass to his face with a questioning look in his eyes.

His mannerisms and introverted sense almost made the bartender drop the cup he was horribly polishing. The last guy coming into the bar like this died the next day on the streets. Most people come here to drink their days away or before they do something they might regret, not to sit around a room and ponder.

"Look, green guy, I don't care about who the fuck you are, or where you came from, or how your mommy mistreated ya, but you gotta drink that drink, else I have some buddies rough ya up, hear? It's bad business if your customers don't drink."

Even though the bio-android doesn't need to eat or drink, he thought he might as well experience it for pleasure in the wild, wild space. Cell took a half-hearted sip of the concoction before him. He spat the whole thing out once his lips tasted one of the most disgusting things he's ever come across.

"What? Too much for ya?"

It took a while for it to settle in, but a huge rush of buzz came whizzing across his head. He held his head for a little while before it subsided.

"It's mixed with these Czarnian poana leaves. Potent enough to kill some scrawny guy like ya self. It's called Poana Death."

"Thank you for the information." Cell said groggily, still holding on to his head in case of another buzz attack.

Cell's senses started to tingle, nullifying any remanence of the buzz. A powerful being is going to approach him. To eliminate him? No, impossible, there's no one that powerful who could've—Superman! He's come to-

All speculation was thrown out the window. A large, pale skinned, dread-headed man with a nasty look on his face replaced what Cell thought was the man of steel. The eyes that were previously on him when he first came all latched on to this man, many carrying horrified looks on their faces. This newcomer looked at the bartender with an oddly friendly look.

"Rock! You know I need me some Poana death!"

Without thinking, the bartender grabbed the drink Cell placed on the table and gave it to the thug.

"On the house as always Lobo."

Lobo heartedly drank its contents in one gulp while Cell watched with surprise.

"Didn't you say it was deadly?" Cell said to the bartender, who didn't even notice his question.

The Frieza in him wants to rip out the bartender's throat for ignoring his superior, but the other personalities in him say otherwise. He's a stranger here, not some galactic overlord. He'll abide by this untold pecking order for now.

"What brought you back to this hell hole? Thought you left for good when ya killed that guy who stole your poana death."

"I have my reasons."

"Well," The bartender brought back the same glass he polished to clean it again with a dirty rag. "Since you got me this job when ya killed the last bartendah, your drinks are on the house."

There were tons of stools and tables in the bar, which made it odd for Cell that Lobo chose the one next to his.

When you're so high and mighty that you effortlessly blow up planets, you can feel the strength of those powerful like you. You can feel their power radiating far away, attracting other strong beings. The dread-headed mercenary knew Cell was a lot stronger than he looked, not someone you should trifle with. He can tell right off the bat why Superman lost to such a guy.

"Rock, I don't like how you took that booze from my friend."

"Your friend? I didn't know!"

Rock pulled out a cup filled with poana death faster than Lobo could get in a bad mood. He passed it to Lobo, who gave it to Cell.

"Excuse that fuckup bartender, buggie," Lobo said it with a friendly expression, yet Cell continued to drift into space.

"What are you thinkin' about?"

Cell lobbed his head over to Lobo with a smile.

"I want to kill every powerful being in the universe. Judging by my mood, that can include you."

Lobo replied with a big smile of his own.

"Is that so? Do you think some scrawny nobody like yourself can take on the universe?"

Although Lobo knew Cell was powerful, he doubted he could take on some of the most powerful beings in this dreaded macrocosm. There's something about Cell's eyes though that made him think otherwise. He could see two things through them: tens of thousands of unknown people staring at him, and at the same time, a single pair a pinkish eyes full vigor and determination. This bug looking guy apparently has gone through some shit.

"Yes."

"Your funeral, not that I won't enjoy the show."

Lobo took out a piece of paper and a pencil, utilities he picked up on Earth the last time someone put another bounty on Superman. He wrote out the names Peraxxus, Mongul, Maxima, and Darkseid.

"This is who I'd fight if I were on a suicide run. I'd add Superman to that list, but you've already beaten em'."

"There's no way you could've known that."

Cell was just about ready to wipe Lobo and this planet off the face of the universe when two Green Lanterns entered the bar. Everyone was on edge, some getting out of their tables while others tuned their weapons in case if the pair decided to arrest one of them. One of the Lanterns, probably the senior of the two, pointed at Cell while walking towards him.

"For crimes against sector 2814, murdering tens of thousands of civilians on planet Earth, we are taking you to Oa to stand for these offenses. We are allowed to use force if necessary."

The other Lantern whispered something in his senior's ear, something about caution, Hal Jordan, John Stewart, and strong. Cell got up from his stool and faced these two attackers. Without warning, he blasted the younger Lantern in the head, startling everyone except Lobo at how fast he was.

"Monster!" The senior Lantern cried out while firing a blast from his ring.

Cell extended his neck out of the way, the blast nearly hitting the bartender. He retaliated with his own blast that atomized the alien Lantern. The crowd that surrounded Cell during his fight now crowded on the dead Lanterns, each person trying to their grubby hands on whatever they could find on them. One guy tried to put the younger Lantern's ring on himself, looking in confusion when it didn't power up.

"That's some fine ass aim buggie," Lobo stated, examining the dead Lanterns from his stool.

Cell left the bar and nodded for Lobo to come with him. Lobo had to make his choice here. It's painfully clear from the start that the power difference between the two is too big for him to win conceivably. He could fight him, sure, if he wants to die. No person in their right mind would challenge this guy, even if the bounty's high. He brandished the scouter Luthor had delivered to him and crushed it as he walked out the bar, grabbing Cell's poana death as he went.

Cell waited outside for Lobo with his arms crossed, looking more like a stalker from your nightmares than someone waiting for someone else. There was a sigh of relief on Cell's end when he saw Lobo exit the bar. This way, at least he can conserve his energy for the real threats instead of having to kill Lobo for not coming.

"I'll need the services of someone like yourself. Traversing the universe can become cumbersome when you don't know where you're going. You seem to be someone who knows his place around, am I right to presume that?"

"Seems about right, but why should I help you?" Lobo scoffed with his hands on his hips.

"A no-brainer. I was going to kill you anyway because of your strength."

"In that case… doesn't leave me with a lot of options. Sides, watching you murder your way across the universe could be entertainin'."

This time, it was Lobo leading Cell around. He brought him to his spaceship, parked conveniently nearby the bar. It was a present Luthor gave to him for completing one of his other contracts. A click of a button opened its mini-hangar, allowing the two to enter in. Cell and Lobo were greeted with a large control panel alongside two seats and two respective cupholders. Lobo had brought his poana death drink with him, so he happily placed it inside the cup-holder once the two seated in.

"Who's first?" Cell asked, holding up the piece of paper with the four names.

"Peraxxus. He's the pussy we need to jumpstart your campaign." Lobo answered while hitting a few switches in the control panel.

The ship hummed and heaved before lifting itself off the moon carved pavement, jettisoning itself into outer space. After a good minute of getting out of orbit, Lobo started to hit a couple more buttons.

"Ever heard of a boom tube?"

"No."

"Some instant travel device?"

"No."

"A way to get from point A to point B instantly?"

"Not at all."

"Teleportation?"

"Only the concept."

"Fuck it."

Lobo pushed the ship into forward gears when a portal opened up right in front of the ship. The spaceship was enveloped in a white light while they rode through the turning vortex.

* * *

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

Trunks transformed into a Super Saiyan and leaped towards Supergirl with a heavy hand. The strength of which was so strong it blew her away, leaving Wonder Girl and Superboy to cover for her. The two lunged at Trunks and exchanged blows, taking them farther and farther into the training room.

Wonder Woman was just about ready to jump in after seeing how quickly the three are fighting in 100x gravity. She amped it up to 200x and noticed a slight slow in their combat speeds. 250x seemed to be the sweet spot, so she configured it to that and threw herself into the fray.

Trunks was just about ready to give in, having fought for such a long time he thought he might lose his Super Saiyan state. Wonder Woman was there to come to the rescue, though, she took Wonder Girl out for a literal spin. Trunks and Superboy continued to exchange blows, but he was a goner without one of the two backing him up. He can endure way more, though, evidenced by how he's taking a lot of Trunks's hits. Eventually, he caved in and surrendered, dropping on the ground and taking deep breaths.

Supergirl returned to the fight by assisting Wonder Girl fighting Wonder Woman. The two combined are roughly equal to Wonder Woman, probably even more, but they'll outpace her with their higher stamina before she's forcefully defeated. Trunks prevented that from happening and put himself in between Wonder Girl's attack.

"Ow!" Trunks wailed while moving out of the way.

"Idiot! That's why you don't get into one of my- "

Wonder Woman knocked her with a well-placed punch to the face. Her body banged on the wall of the opposite side of the training room and lied face down on the floor. Supergirl was about to continue fighting Wonder Woman in retaliation, but she knew the fight was over when The two started to corner her. She held her hands high in defeat.

"Good thinking Trunks, you got her distracted enough for me to make the finishing blow."

"If you ask me, her hot head is her greatest weakness."

The two shared a good laugh before turning back the training room to normal gravity. The feeling of becoming lightweight after being heavy for so long felt immensely relieving.

"Move back a little." Trunks said, motioning his hand while Wonder Woman and Supergirl did as he asked.

Trunks charged up to his maximum; his muscles bulged while a fiery aura encased his body. The entire training room shook, but only the training room as its custom configurations keeps everything that goes on inside contained to only inside. Once Trunks reached his upper limit, he frowned.

"What's wrong?" Wonder Woman was still close enough to Trunks to see his disappointed look.

"I've gotten a lot stronger these past few weeks, we all have, but I'm not even half Cell's strength. If he comes back today, not even all our powers combined could beat him."

"Then we'll just train harder and longer. We'll catch up with him someday."

 _Train harder, huh… longer…_

It hit him like an energy blast. He remembered from one of Bulma's old stories of Goku going into a room that allowed him to train for an entire year in only a real day's time. The experience was so grueling that he barely survived. Its existence is unlikely, his survival even more unlikely, but he has to go. The fate of this universe and his own just might hinge on it.

"What if I told you that there's a room, a room in my world where we all can get a year's worth of training in a day?" Trunks said while depowering to his regular form.

"If you were any other person, I'd think your lying. I'll go if you're planning to."

"That's the plan. In fact, all of you can come."

The five were now huddled together and breathing like it's a sauna. Fighting at 250x is hard enough, so how difficult can this room that transcends time be?

"If it can make me as good as you, count me in," Superboy said in a huff.

"I'll tag along." Supergirl chimed in.

"Ugh, since everyone's going I might as well." Wonder Girl spat out.

"Then it's settled," Trunks stretched out his back and yawned. "We should get Superman to come as well,"

"I'll get him. He'll want to tag along if it can bring him to Cell's level." Wonder Woman replied.

"Alright, we'll leave tomorrow. I just need to get the time machine from my mother."

* * *

In the icy depths of the Antarctic, two planes arrived at a rather deserted location. One plane was a small, military-like vehicle, with the physical design of a bat clearly in mind. The other was of private executive class as if it were the president's, small compared to regular commercial planes but way larger than this black plane next to it. Both of the aircraft's bays opened seconds after the other, with several pairs of boots walking out of each. In this black plane, a scientist with turquoise hair and thick clothes walked after a black armored man with heavy clothing himself. His much larger than standard cape insulated him from the coldness of the Antarctic.

Four people exited the private plane. The first was a man in a wheelchair, with an armored female soldier pushing the chair and two armored men covering their backs. Once they spotted the two coming out of the black plane adjacent to them, the female soldier signaled for the two men to go back and protect the jetliner. She continued to push Luthor's wheelchair as they approached the scientist and the detective. The group met between the two planes.

"Couldn't believe that dread headed buffoon bailed. The fool." Luthor mumbled while approaching the scientist and the detective. When they met up, the four didn't greet each other.

"Shouldn't it be right here?" The physically challenged man pointed down on the ground for physical representation and to vent his frustrations.

"The coordinates aren't exact. We should move more north." The black armored man replied.

The cripple sighed, but carried on with the man's wishes. The four started their way there.

There were rumors out about Dr. Nero having an underground laboratory in Antarctica, away from the clutches of his persecutor Lex Luthor, as well as giving himself free reign over what he can create. These rumors were confirmed when the watchtower's satellite camera caught a rough picture of said base when it was making its yearly world sweep a few days ago.

They advanced for a good ten minutes when a building appeared out of the snowy winds. The four made their trek to it and found a large double door that became the only obstacle left. Batman and the soldier strategically hid behind both ends of the door. After a pause, Batman surprisingly managed to open the door without going through a lock. They were hesitant at first, but they all rest easy when Batman found no hidden traps or activated defense mechanisms.

The lab was messy. It had dozens upon dozens of blueprints and papers lying around, with large wires connecting to one place or another. One diagram that caught everyone's eyes was a design that looked exactly like Cell. Batman picked it up and examined it. With the acceptance of a few minor details, it seems to be that the scientist knew what Cell looked like. The possibility of this made before or after Cell's arrival could be anyone's guess, though.

"This is odd," Batman began while looking at more papers. "There's all these blueprints and yet not a single invention around."

Besides the obvious cables and papers, the room was barren and small, to say the least. It wouldn't make sense if Dr. Nero conducted experiments here.

"Maybe the poor cuck couldn't afford anything better," Luthor jokingly theorized while inspecting a blueprint of a white, burly man, with a long braided ponytail to boot.

"Guys, I think I found something."

Everyone turned to see Bulma uncover a large hatch by removing the papers on top of it. The female soldier and Batman brushed her aside and opened the hidden latch with brute force, lifting it up with their might. The hatch opened to reveal a long ladder with no apparent end.

"Ladders, the bane of my crippled existence." Luthor joked while his soldier returned to his side.

"We'll return shortly," Batman said reassuringly, gesturing for Bulma to accompany him.

"Yeah yeah, just go."

Batman went down the ladder first, climbing down cautiously as they went. Surprisingly, it did have an end. Bulma and Batman finished climbing and saw an array of unparalleled technology. A giant supercomputer made up the center of this underground facility, with several pods with numbers on them dotting its larger interior.

Bulma brushed her fingers on the dusty pod named number 14. She didn't know herself, but the purple face of the person within number 14 looked exactly like the blueprint Luthor is looking at. Luthor also saw a design of a man with a trucker hat and one of a blond woman while Bulma and Batman searched the area.

Batman looked at the pod of number 20. He didn't even have the chance to inspect the person inside of it when he noticed the corpse lying next to the supercomputer. He motioned for Bulma to come to him while he moved the body to lie face up. His puffy orange and brown garb alone were enough for the dark knight to deduce it was the body of Dr. Nero.

"It's strange, this Dr. Nero looks exactly like the Dr. Gero of my universe."

"It's unlikely that they're the same person. My theory is that they're very similar but not the same person, hence why he's called Dr. Nero instead of Dr. Gero."

"Yes, you are correct to presume that Batman."

Batman and Bulma were startled by the voice that boomed around the room. They tried to find the source to these words but couldn't find any.

"It is the computer that is speaking, or really, me."

"But how?" Bulma questioned.

If Dr. Nero had a pair of eyes, it would be staring deeply into Bulma.

"Bulma! It's really you! I thought you died!"

"Uhm, maybe in a different universe?" Bulma said, confused.

"I'm intrigued," Batman said with his finger arched over his lips. "There's no Bulma equivalent in this universe. If you aren't from this universe or Bulma's, where are you from?"

A rush of memories filled the supercomputer's nonexistent heart. Memories of a universe far away, and a time long ago.

* * *

It was ages ago when Bulma and himself were partners, the former behind taught by the latter. Through the Capsule Corporation, they created wonders that exceeded the technological capacity of most universes. These wonders made Capsule Corporation the biggest company on Earth, driving the planet to a faster future.

Dr. Nero had a darker side to him. Unbeknownst to Bulma, he served the Blue Ribbon Army that Goku destroyed so many years ago. Had Goku stopped with only destroying the Blue Ribbon Army, Dr. Nero would've lived his life normally following the army's disbandment. But no, his son died in the defense against Goku in one of the force's many castles. He vowed vengeance for his son, using Bulma purely as a way to get closer to Goku.

That grudge made him create androids 17 and 18, a pair designed only to kill Goku and that's it. He wanted Goku dead, but not with tons of bloodshed. They succeeded in that mission, ignoring all the damage the Z-Fighters dealt while delivering the killing blow. What Dr. Nero didn't anticipate was for them to act independently.

When a bored 17 and 18 decided to kill the Z-Fighters instead of complying with Dr. Nero, it turned into a slippery slope that ended up with the Earth nearly destroyed. Only Gohan and Baby Trunks survived the destruction that fateful day.

During this time, Bulma worked on a device to destroy the androids while Dr. Nero worked on his own countermeasure. Gohan died while saving Trunks before Bulma finished her gadget. Bulma's device successfully worked, the androids self-destructed in Trunks's hands. Dr. Nero's method of defeating the androids was the continuation of a project Bulma and him worked on, Project Cell.

Project Cell was supposed to be a humanitarian project to create a bio-warrior capable of defending the Earth alongside Goku. Dr. Nero changed Cell to make him unsympathetic, vicious, and capable of absorbing humans to gain energy. Instead of directly killing the androids and likely dying, he is supposed to consume enough humans where he could beat them. Cell tried but couldn't manage to eliminate the androids before Trunks self-destructed them.

For a time, the Earth rebuilt. Bulma and Trunks mourned the loss of Gohan, the last true Z-Fighter. Both Bulma and Dr. Nero worked in secret of a time machine capable of bringing themselves to the past and remedying everything that went wrong. When Dr. Nero caught wind of Bulma making the same thing, he knew that Bulma would kill him in the past so that he doesn't end up creating the androids that cause this whole mess.

Dr. Nero made up his mind, his judgment becoming clear with darkness. To stop Bulma, he ordered Cell to _kill_ Bulma and Trunks, steal their time machine, and go back to the past and absorb the androids before Trunks destroyed them (READ CHAPTER 1! THIS IS UNIVERSE 11!).

When Cell obtained the time machine and went to the past, Dr. Nero used his time machine around the same time as well. Bulma from Universe 231 (our Bulma) coincidentally used her time machine at the same time too. All of these time machines going to one particular time at the same time caused a distortion in time. The three contraptions were thrust into a different universe altogether. While Cell, Trunks, and Bulma managed to come to this DC universe around the same time, Dr. Nero was forced further back into time. He arrived several years earlier than everyone else.

With darkness boiling inside of him, Dr. Nero was motivated to recreate Cell in this universe. His first attempt at blending with this new Earth's society and starting the Cell project with very limited funds (Zeni does not equal US dollars in this universe apparently?) failed miserably. This idea of his was quickly picked up by Luthor though, who saw this as an opportunity to make a creature that can kill Superman. Everything was smooth sailing until the reasoning of creating Project C-19 clashed with Luthor. Luthor had ordered him killed by bounty hunters for his insolence, where Dr. Nero only had to give the hunters some cash, and they would leave him alone.

Dr. Nero retreated to Antarctica where Luthor can't touch him if he figured out he were still alive and built up a facility where he would create Androids 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 20. That way, if Luthor managed to create C-19 without his help, his androids will be able to decimate his first form and the rest of the world's superheroes.

Dr. Gero was succumbing to cancer, a side effect of using his cheap time machine compared to Bulma's time machine. Instead of dying, he uploaded his brain into the supercomputer days before Batman and Bulma arrived. For the most part, he maintained and slowly upgraded his androids, building up an army that will substitute for Cell.

* * *

Once the supercomputer was finished reminiscing his life, he turned back to Batman's statement.

"I am Dr. Nero, the scientist that came from the same universe that this Cell did."

"Then that means…!"

"Yes, I created him."

On the top floor of the base, Luthor nodded at his female guard. She nodded back, cocked her gun, and went down the ladder.

"But why?" Bulma asked.

"According to my information you're from Universe 231, is that correct?"

"I am, but only I would know that. I was the one who enumerated the universe…"

"In my universe, we categorized the universes up to 250 before we even knew how to create a time machine. There's a particular reason why you're standing here today, and only I know the reason."

Batman and Bulma sat on Dr. Gero's table. This conversation was going to be a while.

"Me, you, Cell, we all used our time machines at the same time. When we cross time, we create a ripple, a small one that allows us to jump throughout the timeline. When we used our time machines at the same time, the ripple became so massive that it caused a distortion in time. To rectify this, the natural law of the multiverse ejected us into a different universe so that we don't continue creating a distortion. This event caused our time machines to become warped, only capable of going back to this universe and our own. Any plans you might have about going to the past have been nulled."

Dr. Nero's last words irked Bulma. The only reason why Bulma and Trunks are here was that they were supposed to bring Goku to the future so that he could defeat the androids.

"That doesn't answer the question. Why did you create Cell?"

"The answer to that question is unimportant. What is, is that this our existence in our improper universe is creating a new distortion. The multiverse has created something designed purely to kill us. I've only seen him in my dreams days before I uploaded myself in this computer… but he's real. He's come to end us all."

"But who? What?" Batman replied.

"My answer is only probable. It's- "

Bullets slew across the room. Batman narrowly pushed Bulma out of the firing range when the shots impacted the computer. It only took a few shots to destroy it beyond repair, lying in a heap of its wires and circuit board. A few seconds ago, those two things carried the consciousness of a frustrated man. Now, it's just a trash heap.

"Idiot!" Batman screamed, punching the guard until she spat blood.

"I had orders…" She wailed while gasping for breath.

Batman looked back at Bulma in case she got hit by any ammunition. He saw her look quietly at the destroyed computer, her head low.

"In my universe, he lived a life of seclusion when his son died in the Red Ribbon Army. In another, he could've been Earth's savior. Another, an artist."

Batman brought himself away from the guard and by Bulma's side. He looked at the computer and tried to think how Bulma was thinking.

"Life can deal you with horrible circumstances, but how you choose to deal with them is what defines you. When my parents were murdered, I didn't lie down and die with them. I chose to live on. In the end, it's his choices, not a number of a universe that determined his fate."

There was something odd sticking out of the computer. When Batman squinted at it, he almost immediately grabbed Bulma and the guard and forced them up the ladder. He yelled at the guard to get Luthor while he signaled for his batplane to autopilot over to him. Bulma desperately grabbed whatever papers she could along the way before she ran for the plane. They were out of Dr. Nero's base in less than a minute and into the sky in two. When Bulma looked back in her seat for one last mental image of the place, she was greeted with a massive explosion instead.

The base was utterly obliterated, the only works and evidence of Dr. Nero even existing lied on her lap. He may have been evil, but his ideas could very well save millions of lives, redeeming him in Bulma's book. While Bulma and Batman rode in silence, Bulma received a call from her scouter. She double clicked it to enable communication.

"Mom, where are you? Do you… um, think that I can use the time machine to go back to our universe?"

* * *

The explosion didn't spare much. The entire point of it was to destroy any evidence of Dr. Nero from this universe should he ever die. If it were Luthor coming after him, the explosion was meant to kill him.

Ruined rubble and debris buried the ladder from the underground to the topside with tons of material. While the underground lab survived complete annihilation unlike above ground, it still took some damage. Every pod except one was perfectly intact. The only pod that was hit had its lid broken open by the detonation's force.

These circumstances allowed one creation to break free. His face was partially destroyed in the explosion, leaving half of it completely cyborg like while the other 'human'. His trucker's hat was still okay, so that's a plus.

He walked over to the remains of Dr. Nero's computer and paid his respects. Although he's able to act independently without Dr. Nero's instructions, he still had a profound respect for the man. The scientist was his creator after all. While there were no instructions, there was one clear directive the good doctor instilled in all his androids: to kill Lex Luthor.

Though he doesn't know where this Luthor was, Dr. Nero gave him and the rest of the androids a picture and a biography of the man. Judging by the biography, he's more than likely sitting in Lexcorp headquarters in Metropolis.

The Android smiled. First thing's first, he has to activate his brothers and sisters.

* * *

I want to give a big shoutout to the guest **MDHunter**. His reviews and speculations always bring a warm feeling to my heart. It makes me feel good to know someone out there gives this story some time of their day. I guess what I'm trying to say here is **thank you all for sticking this long.**

In other news, EVERYTHING IS COMING BACK TOGETHER! Like your grandma weaving you a sweater, I'm bringing that same thread I used long ago and brought it back to the story. Remember Universe 11? The universe that got destroyed and Cell came out of it? Well, that same universe now has a much larger backstory.

Speaking of Cell, although Peraxxus may seem 'weak' by Lobo, just how strong is he? And if- when he's defeated, what consequences will it bring?

Trunks is bringing the whole gang to the hyperbolic time chamber! Just how strong do you think they'll become?

But before Trunks can even go back to his universe, Dr. Nero's androids are loose! The hell are they gonna do?

The cosmos is about to get a lot darker. While this new being _does_ come from nature itself, it doesn't mean it's good. For example, poison oak isn't good.

While they did lose a lot of valuable information, Batman, Bulma, and Luthor will have something that will make them increasingly relevant these coming chapters.

Next chapter will be centered more towards Cell, as he embarks in Lobo's spaceship to challenge Peraxxus.

 **New chapter's hitting you 7/22/2016!** **GET READY! GET HYPED!**


	12. Cell vs The Universe Part 2

**DISCLAIMER:** I own neither **Dragon Ball** or **DC Comics**.

 **AND ANOTHER DISCLAIMER:** Yeah yeah, I'm _way_ off the time mark. Guess I really didn't guarantee anything there did I (he he, he he...)? I'm sorry, it's just that I assumed my summer vacation wouldn't be as good as it is right now! I'm literally doing something new every day while visiting my grandparents in Canada. Not only that, but I'll be staying in Canada for a year, attending the school here and picking up some of the French my French speaking relatives annoyingly tell me to.

Anyway, I hope you guys are having as great of a summer as I am. And during those down times, read my story.

* * *

 **Cell vs The Universe,** **Part 2**

Giant, mechanical beasts stalk the corners of the monotonous hallways. Each one is rusted and with grime, their heads sunk low and their bodies without purpose. At one point, they were the demigods of the universe. They were designed to investigate the advancement of civilizations. When these civilizations progressed to a certain point, they would call upon their masters. No one knows who exactly are these masters, but it's common fact that they've died eons ago, leaving their once hearled creations to rot.

One day, the warlord Peraxxus stumbled upon these old arts, as well as one of the ships the masters used. He activated these creations once more, but for a different purpose. He used them destroy planets and bend his galaxy to his will. He can remember the days when people would tremble when the word Peraxxus was uttered.

Now, Peraxxus has grown old. He still conquers of course, but not with the same vigor. His allies are slowly becoming enemies. Darkseid, a man Peraxxus saw rise in power, now considers him his lesser. Oftentimes, he debates whether or not this endless fighting is worth so much trouble. He does not settle and control territory like Darkseid does, he's a one man horde.

Lobo parked the ship snuggly into one of Peraxxus's bays in his massive spaceship. Signal Men dotted the area, silently awaiting their overlord's orders while keeping the place well defended. Cell didn't even have to fight; Lobo could take out a Signal Man in a few hits. Occasionally he'll throw in a blast or two to keep himself flexible, usually resulting in the destruction of a Signal Man. The two made their leisurely way to Peraxxus's throne room unchallenged.

Peraxxus could tell they were approaching him. The destruction they caused was too loud to not notice even on the other side of the ship. With a command made by pure thought, he ordered the remaining Signal Men to intercept the intruders.

10, 20, 50, it didn't matter. No matter how much he threw at Lobo, he always came out on top and ready for more. He traded fists with one Signal Man, causing the robot's arm to rupture and violently disassemble. Another Signal Man kicked him while he was preoccupied, reminding Lobo of a bee sting he suffered while on Earth. He landed on the other side of the wall and used it as his platform to catapult himself into the head of that Signal Man, destroying it.

A couple of Signal Men managed to slip past Lobo and work their way to the other intruder, one they couldn't identify after all their time in this universe. He didn't look strong, likely one of Lobo's sidekicks or something. Two Signal Men should be more than enough.

Cell watched as these tall robots approached him. He motioned his hand over several of these contraptions and made the proper calculations. In seconds, a dozen Signal Men heads exploded by having energy balls inserted into them. Eventually, all Signal Men in Peraxxus's ship were destroyed, leaving Cell and Lobo to walk undisturbed.

Peraxxus felt the last Signal Man destroyed effortlessly. He could feel their strength radiating across the hallways, becoming more potent each step they take. There clearly was one person amongst the two whose power wasn't even used. To save for him, perhaps? He awaited their arrival in his throne.

Cell and Lobo made it to the throne room after several minutes of walking. Each could feel the overwhelming strength of the other bouncing across the room. Although no one would say, it, they're all enticed by this.

"Lobo, I wouldn't expect you. Who hired you? The man next to you?" Peraxxus spoke, his hand resting on his armchair and face. His scythe was to the throne's side.

"Y'know none's stupid enough to put a bounty on ya, even if your'a getting a little gray." Lobo smarmily replied, spitting out a piece of alien metal from a rather nasty attack he did on a Signal Man.

"So who is he?"

Peraxxus continued to stare at this creature next to the bounty hunter. Their eyes locked, surrounded by waves upon waves of unimaginable power emitting from the two. He was strong, so strong that it made Lobo look like an ant in comparison. This was the man he sensed doing nothing. There's only one way to find out if this green bug is stronger than him.

There was a certain feeling in the air. Peraxxus greedily inhaled it, his body filling with strength. He was ready- no, _excited_ to fight this green man. He always wanted to invade Earth and kill this so called Superman, but no, clearly this specimen before him is vastly stronger. He hasn't felt like this in a long time.

Peraxxus pointed his finger at the green, slender figure. "Who are you?"

"I am Cell."

"No, really," Peraxxus no longer saw the man behind this power source. He only saw his great strength radiating everywhere. "Who _are_ you?"

Cell stood and stared silently. It's insane for the warlord to think that there was a creature with that much power he only recent knew about. That some stupid, young bug with a silent attitude has the audacity to challenge his might!

"Hmph," He snorted. "Not man of words, are you? I am same way."

While Peraxxus to some may be seen as a brute, he is as calculating and intelligent as Darkseid and the other tyrants rampaging the universe. During a reconnaissance of Earth for preparations of his arrival, he learned much of the events that have transpired recently. He heard of a man named Cell who brought the Justice League and the whole world on their knees. He mysteriously disappeared into space after a conversation with the Justice League and an out-of-place boy with purple hair. Some say he's off to make buddies with Darkseid. There's one rumor however that just turned out to be true. Cell wants to eliminate the universe of everyone he deemed worthy of fighting. Since he's here, that includes him.

Peraxxus grabbed ahold of his scythe and tapped its bottom on the ground. A blueish glow began to emit out of the business end of his scythe. He erected himself off the throne, taking a few paces to further advance on these two invaders.

"We've come here to kill ya, so it's best to better pucker up that ass before we give it a beating!" Lobo spoke with a toothy grin across his face. He was as blood-lusted as ever.

Peraxxus completely ignored him and stood against Cell. Unbeknownst to the three, the two's auras swirled against each other. Peraxxus's aura was huge, black and intimidating to say the least. He is cold to the bone, his daunting history a forever reminder of that. He has seen many like Cell who challenge him. He killed them all without mercy.

But, Cell, Cell was a different breed altogether. His aura was gray, but deep within it, a pitch black ambience darker then his from days long past. That darkness wasn't his alone. Tens of thousands of souls embody this darkness, souls that scream for their rescue from this unending torment. He said that it is a privilege to become one with him, but really, it's just hell before Hell.

Lobo couldn't stop himself. Watching those two stand without moving so much as an inch was too much suffering to bear. Peraxxus was too enticing of a slaughter not to kill. Before Cell could make his move, Lobo lounged at Peraxxus with his tongue sticking out and the craziest look in his eye.

* * *

After the war of the Green Lanterns, the guardians began to conclude that the Green Lanterns are simply flawed like the Hunters that came before them, and that they must guard the universe by themselves. In light of recent events in Sector 2814, they might as well put their plans to a pause and use the Corps one last time. Besides, seeing how powerful this Cell is, a good sum of Lanterns just might die anyway fighting him.

In Oa, the center of the universe, the Guardians of the universe conversed amongst themselves for a solution to end such a small, albeit volatile threat. They could kill him, easily even, but it's not right for them to intervene.

"He's a nuisance. He managed to kill two measly Lanterns, so what? A moderately sized unit of members should be more than enough." A guardian spoke, one that is known for his cockiness.

"It's foolish putting so much attention to this..." She began, floating across their meeting room with her laughably big head. "…But works well within the greater objective in mind. I agree, but do not underestimate his power. He eliminated Hal Jordan and many his Justice League he associated with." The only female guardian replied.

After a quite chatter amongst those who haven't spoken, there was a unanimous agreement that Cell should be disposed of quickly. The guardian who proposed the idea saw it spark with widespread approval in joy.

"Then it's decided," The guardian that first spoke began. "Remove high ranking members from their sectors and prepare an immediate assault. This Cell is in unprotected space, nearby a warlord known as Peraxxus. We will eliminate him there and arrest Peraxxus."

"What about Trunks and Bulma?"

The guardian lowered its head to think. He has been watching Trunks since he arrived at this universe. He would like to confiscate his time machine and use it for himself, but he doesn't want Trunks to know of his existence. Although his actions in his universe are nothing short of noble, him being here will only destabilize the universe in time. It's already happening, but it's just not a problem yet.

"Nothing will happen to them. If they overstay their welcome, we will ask the Justice League to make them leave."

The other guardians rested uneasily with his statement. There was else to the guardian's words.

Years ago, an unidentified flying object appeared out of nowhere on Earth, the Guardians were just lucky enough to detect it. They found out it existed outside of the universe, and disrupted the natural balance of the multiverse. In time, the device was on Earth and the human named Dr. Nero that piloted it began to destabilize the universe. An entity, weak at first, appeared behind the source wall after some time. The guardians were able to encase it in a barrier ever since.

Years later, that same entity became a hundred fold stronger when two new objects disrupted the balance of the multiverse. Bulma and Cell made the entity so powerful it can crack the barrier of the Guardians placed on him. Those cracks are starting to become too troublesome to regenerate lately.

They all, agreed, somewhat, but how long can they reasonably keep it at bay?

"We cannot wait for them to leave."

"Silence," The guardian sharply replied. "Eliminating Cell will weaken it. If you're still not convinced, we can speak of this after the assault."

"Agreed." The rest of the guardians said in unison.

They continued to lie in wait, watching as each Lantern left their guarding sector and joined the rest of the corps in a combined assault.

* * *

It took a while, pressing the manual number code on each pod since automatic activation was destroyed, but Android 13 managed to reactivate every pod. He activated them all at once, watching as his brothers and sister wake from their deep slumber. Each titanium gray cover that laid on top of their pods slid off in unison. A flash of red flickered into everyone's eyes before they returned to their normal hue. Thousands of code sequences blared through their eyes, a system check to see if years of deactivation might have damaged a processor core or two.

Every one of them stood upright and immediately observed their surroundings. It took less than a second for them to realize that the doctor is dead, the lab is caved in, and Android 13 lost half of his face.

"Dr. Nero?"

Android 18 hastily ran to the corpse that had used to harbor his soul. Due to being all the way in Antarctica, it isn't surprising that the carcass only showed minimal signs of decomposition despite being dead for days now. She bowed as a sign of respect to the great designer while her twin, Android 17, did the same behind her.

"Dr. Nero appointed me leader if he ever passed." Android 13 said to his brother and sister, whom got back up after paying their regards.

"Yeah, whatever." Android 18 said in a huff, fixing her blonde hair while surveying the underground room.

Android 16 was inspecting the room as well. He was a rather burly man with red hair, sporting the looks of Dr. Nero's son despite not even knowing him himself. He noticed that the computer Dr. Nero coded everyone in is now destroyed, and the ladder leading up to the upstairs is buried. Someone besides Dr. Nero came here, and recently. Whoever came would be the one who killed Dr. Nero.

"What happened?" Android 16 began, walking over to the doctor's body. He looked at Android 13, who seemed to be the de-facto leader of this headless crew. "Why is Dr. Nero dead?"

To be honest, the fake man with the trucker hat and white hair didn't know either. It's obvious that someone came. But what he can't wrap around is the idea of someone actually having the balls to come all the way here just to kill an old scientist. Who would dare kill Dr. Nero?

"Luthor," Android 13 snapped his fingers, his mechanical brain spinning to life. "Luthor did this. He is the doctor's only enemy as far as I know."

The androids felt a pang of hatred seep through their minds. They were all hard-wired to hate Luthor down to the literal core. Even if Lex Luthor wasn't the one who did this, he was the one who forced Dr. Nero to Antarctica in the first place. Hell, he even tried to have the doctor murdered.

"That's enough info for me to kill em'. That's our purpose, 'member?" Android 15 chimed in. He's by far the shortest of the group, with purple skin and yellow-rimmed glasses to cover his fully mechanical eyes. He has the cutest Blue Ribbon Army bowtie to tie the whole outfit down.

"Right," Android 13 said. "But it won't be easy tracking such a rich man."

The other five watched as 13 blew a hole in the ceiling. He gestured for his brethren to follow as he flew out of Dr. Nero's base. They landed in the snowy depths of the Antarctic, having no need for insulation due to their robotic nature. Hell, Android 14 only had a small leather wrap to 'cover' his chest.

"Now what?" Android 17 huffed.

17 noticed Android 15 landing and almost outright laughed when he fell into the snow. Android 14 had to pick the little guy up.

Android 13 stoically looked beyond the shrouding winter before him.

"We go to his headquarters in Metropolis, say hello, have a nice chat, maybe a cup of- Are you an idiot son? We gonna kill that son' bitch!"

Android 13 flew off and away into the distance. Android 16 and 19, silent types but with completely different personalities just obeyed orders and followed suit. Android 14 and 15 flew together, with 15 holding the cloth of 14 instead of flying. 17, however, stayed put.

"I'm not collaborating with that redneck idiot." Android 17 said while looking back at the base.

Android 18 walked over to his side and bent over to him with a friendly smile. When 17 eased himself and lowered his guard, 18 slapped him hard enough to leave a mark. She grabbed him and flew to the rest of the gang.

* * *

Trunks was just about ready to go. He carried a single pack full of provisions and medicines should he ever injure himself too badly. It's almost surreal, going back to the Earth he left half a year ago. When he was going back to his time, he thought he would have cured Goku by now and saved two timelines. It seems fate has an odd way of things.

The young warrior exited his chambers in the watchtower and made his trek to the teleporter. During his walk, he noticed all the superheroes walking and running about. They may look like they just came from a war, but they are a lot happier looking now. Without Cell here, a lot of tension has eased across Earth. It made him almost smile when he saw one of the younger heroes running with vigor so he could respond to an alert somewhere in Illinois.

Trunks stepped on the teleporter platform and disappeared in a blue stream of light. He was brought atom by atom to a beach on an uninhabited island somewhere around Australia. He saw Superman, Wonder Woman, Superboy, Supergirl, and Bulma next to the time machine. They were all smiling and talking, even Superman.

Trunks eased himself. "Hi guys."

Everyone waved or said a warm welcome before Bulma hugged Trunks as tight as she could. She bathed him in her dusty lab coat and love.

"Make sure you stay safe there, okay? Goku didn't say that place was dangerous for nothing." She asserted while ruffling his hair.

"Alright alright! I understand."

Trunks lightly brushed her aside before facing the time machine. When he did, he noticed Wonder Girl was missing.

"Where's Wonder Girl?"

"It was tough, but I told her not to go." Wonder Woman began while moving forward to him. "A lot of people will make moves with us gone. Defeating Cell is important, but the immediate safety of Earth is important as well."

"Makes sense," Trunks replied with his finger to his chin.

Superman was already facing the time machine. Something about that hug Bulma gave humbled his shattered heart, he couldn't bear to watch it. "If there's nothing else, we should start heading out."

"Wait a sec,"

Superman turned back to Bulma, who was fiddling inside her lab coat pocket. She managed to fish out a capsule and strolled a little bit away. One thrust in the air and a large box exploded out of it.

"It's the training clothes you'll be wearing there. Just keep it as a surprise for now."

Once Superboy lifted the new luggage and placed it inside the time machine, Bulma started to walk away, pressing the scouter buttons necessary to teleport back to the watchtower. She turned, faced everyone before they made their way in the time machine, clicked the button, and waved.

"Remember, only two years! Or uh, two days in real life."

Trunks, Supergirl, and Wonder Woman waved back while Superboy and Superman were already making way inside the technological contraption. When Bulma fully disappeared into the blue light, they flew inside of the time machine.

There were only two seats in the time machine but more than enough space for everyone to fit inside, albeit uncomfortably. Trunks and Superman sat in the chairs while the other four sat with the luggage.

"Do your magic Trunks."

A large control panel sat before him. Trunks did the switches and activations necessary to jumpstart the machine. The ship's long claw ends delatched itself from the ground, the time machine flying into the sky. For a moment, the machine flickered as if debating whether or not it exists in this universe.

After making the final connection, Trunks lifted the case on the red button. He punched it, causing the time machine to disappear.

In its wake, a black hole of temporal discord lied where the time machine vanished. The hole violently destroyed the island in seconds, churning it into fragments and enveloping it inside itself. It was gone before it could even be detected by the six androids flying directly above, eagerly closing the distance on their creator's killer. Android 13 noticed the few dismantled coconut trees in the ocean and left it as the weirdness of the universe.

* * *

The entity staggered in the barrier. Trunks has left the universe, a fourth of his mission done for him. With it, a fourth of his power was taken in the blink of an eye. Dr. Nero's death also caused another quarter loss of strength. All that work he's doing by chipping little by little at the barrier is gone, regenerated back to its original state. He's too weak now to attack it, so he is left to lie in wait, watching as the remaining two go about their pathetic lives. One of 'glory' and one of science, bleh.

He did have one clutch, though. A fragment of his being managed to escape the barrier before Trunks left. It may not be much, but if encountered by the right people, it could potentially release him from this barrier.

The entity watched as his small bits of influence floated straight for the war torn planet of Apokolips, ruled by a man that might be intrigued when he finds out there's someone behind the source wall.

* * *

Green dots slowly appeared from deep space, emitting a peculiar green light as they went. 20 Green Lanterns have entered Peraxxus's zone of control in space. Until now, no one would dare come even close to his tremendously huge ship. It might be perhaps one of the largest spaceships in the multiverse, not counting the death star in universe 104. Four prominent members lead this group of lanterns. Simon Baz, Aa, Stel, and Reemuz. They abruptly stopped their approach when they neared Peraxxus's ship bay hanger.

There was an uneasy feeling between the four of them. They weren't sure what it was, but if it was what they think it is, things were about to get ugly.

"Yellows," Simon Baz pointed at the distance. Sure enough, at least a dozen yellow lights were beaming in the far distance.

"Get ready! Yellow Lanterns are coming!" Reemuz cried out while preparing himself.

The 20 lanterns stopped in their tracks and prepared for the ensuing battle. A dozen lights in the distance quickly quadrupled, blotching the sky with their ugliness.

"Damn Sinestro Corps. They need to die out, and quick." Simon Baz spat out while balling his ring hand in a fist.

"They are a formidable force, an anti-thesis to the Green Lantern Corps. You can even say we can't exist without them." Stel described while holding his ground.

"Heresy."

Inside of the ship, Cell could see the yellow lights approaching. He paid them no heed, as the battle in front of him was much more entertaining. Lobo and Peraxxus wrestled before Lobo kicked him in square in the face. Peraxxus swatted Lobo away and forced his scythe to emit a beam at the bounty hunter. The ensuing explosion pushed him to the far end of the throne room before Lobo managed to get away.

Lobo, after soothing his scorched black from that beam, whipped out his chained hook and dragged Peraxxus over, punching Peraxxus repeatedly. The warlord flew away when Lobo used his hook again, bringing him over to hit him again. Lobo kept redoing this until Peraxxus unhooked himself midflight and stricken Lobo, blood splattering on the ground.

There was a sense of downtime in their fight, a moment where the two recuperated their stamina for a bit before fighting again.

 _Booorring._ Cell noted.

A flurry of explosions and other intensities drew Cell back to the battle outside. He watched as 50 yellow lanterns quickly overwhelmed 20 unprepared green lanterns in a light display that even made him a little jealous. He looked as Aa, although fighting valiantly, died when a man known as Sinestro dodged the waves of destruction until he got close enough to Aa to rip his throat out.

Reemuz made his last stand with five other lanterns backing him. 10 yellow lanterns, led by the hulking, feared monstrosity known as Arkillo, hungrily pounced on the six. Their subordinates danced with each other, one yellow lantern flying with the construct of a dragon while a greenie did the same. The two ended up fatally wounding each other in a head-on collision, topped with an explosive shockwave of yellow and green energies. Close by, three yellow lanterns were at a blast exchange with an inexperienced green lantern, easily overpowering and killing him due to being unable to affect yellow constructs when he's in fear.

Reemuz and two rookie lanterns fought against the other wave of 10 Arkillo personally commanded. They charged at each other in a blaze of ferocity and determination. Reemuz encased himself in a protective armor suit, while slack-jawed Arkillo, whom he was charging at, was too slow to pull out his own construct in time. He was pushed away along with a few other lanterns while they battled. The rookies went down quick, each taking out a lantern before succumbing to their injuries.

Reemuz was left alone. He could see Aa dead and Sinestro leading a pack to murder his brethren. His ring's light dimmed for a moment. He faced west, where the center of the universe and thus Oa is.

He and his species as a whole are a rather peculiar people. They have long life spans and lead lives somewhat similar to the humans of Sector 2814. Throughout his long life, he was always a determined guy. He wanted to protect the weak and right the wrong wherever he went, even if it meant it'll kill him.

More than a dozen yellow lanterns crowded the silent green lantern. Arkillo was at the spearhead as usual, looking at the greenie with disgust.

 **"Look at his fucking face, I oughta' do him in because of that."** He breathed in a deep, beastly voice. Half his men laughed with delirious sincerity and the other half in fear of not doing so.

Arkillo slew a fist at him. For a split second, Reemuz's ring shined brighter than even Sinestro's. He encased himself in a protective bubble while he let out a massive explosion. At least eight yellows died right on the spot, incinerated before they had the chance to realize it was Reemuz who did it. Arkillo was caught in it as well, but the shield he put at the last moment saved him from any fatal injury. He punched through the shield and grabbed Reemuz's head, blasting it to oblivion with a ring blast.

20 green lanterns quickly reduced to 6. The remaining were too shattered and broken to fight, running from the same fear they were fighting moments earlier. Out of the veteran lanterns, only Simon Baz and Stel made it out alive, the others floating dead in the vastness of space.

"Go," Sinestro nodded towards the wide swath of yellow lanterns. "Kill the rest."

The lanterns scattered to slaughter the remnants of the assault party. Only 15 of his lanterns died over the course of the battle, a loss he can take. Sinestro looked eagerly inside of Peraxxus's ship, where he saw Cell watching the fight between Lobo and Peraxxus.

 _I just don't get it. How does such a powerful being end up fighting an old cog in backwater space? What is his agenda?_

Sinestro gestured for his posy to move inside Peraxxus's ship. When they got close enough, he blasted a hole in the ship big enough for them to enter.

Cell noticed this yellow explosion that erupted behind him. A group of five came out wearing uniforms that resemble the ones those lanterns he killed wore at the bar earlier.

The group landed on the metallic floor. The leader looked at his hulking beast of a field captain and pointed at Peraxxus. That same lantern led four yellows and combined their rings into a massive energy blast that engulfed Peraxxus, blowing a new hole on the other side of the spaceship.

"Impressive," Cell murmured while their commander started to walk towards him. He clearly held something in his hand.

"I've heard your achievements across the cosmos, Cell. I can list the amount of people that can accomplish them with one hand."

"My reputation proceeds me for the first time," Cell uttered while turning to the group's commander. That suit definitely looks familiar now. "You are…"

"Sinestro, leader of the Sinestro Corps. You may have heard of a similar organization, the Green Lanterns, no?"

"Right,"

"Then know that we need your help."

Sinestro opened his palm and showed Cell his hidden object, a Yellow Lantern ring. It glowed as if it beckoned to become one with this potential user.

"This ring runs on fear. You've proven you can generate more than all of us combined. Use it, and you can destroy anyone with ease."

The bio-android took the ring and placed it on his palm, mesmerized by the object. While the power it could bestow upon him makes it very tempting, he's still reluctant to use it. His hand started to lightly shake under the mental pressure, as Sinestro's dead yellow eyes started to beam on him.

"No one will stand in our way."

Cell held the ring high, glimmering in the artificial lighting of the ship. He brought it close and placed it in the middle finger of his left hand.

" _You have been chosen to represent space sector 2814."_

His entire body changed in an instant. A black and yellow material weaved across his body. Cell's eyes changed from a mechanical purple to yellow, with a black sclera to boot. A black symbol he couldn't identify placed itself on his chest, a symbol of an allegiance to something he didn't sign up for. This could be excused for the massive power up the ring gave him.

" _Welcome to the Sinestro Corps."_

A yellow glow irradiated across him as if his fear was overflowing. There was no doubt in his mind that his strength has become multitudes stronger. Hell, it's like he had another transformation. It was clear that Sinestro was his lesser, but after sensing him now, his power dwarfed the Yellow Lantern leader by an immeasurable amount. There was something off about Sinestro now, but Cell was too full of himself to care.

"Welcome to the Sinestro Corps," He cited with a beaming, albeit fake smile. "Your first assignment is to eliminate Peraxxus. Make mincemeat out of his remains."

Cell wanted to intervene in Lobo's fight and eliminate the warlord for a quite a while, but now he feels almost _obligated_ too. Nevertheless, he continued forth to do Sinestro's bidding.

Peraxxus was starting to overwhelm the five attacking him. Lobo and Kilowog are getting tired, and the rest of the Lanterns are just meat shields. The warlord dragged himself back into the ship. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Cell on the other end.

"You… you changed…" Peraxxus heaved, clutching a bloody wound on his shoulder. He had blood running on every orifice, with exposed flesh not being uncommon. He's in no condition to fight Cell.

The new Yellow Lantern grinned, aiming his ring finger dead at Peraxxus. A colossal wave of immense, yellow energy engulfed Peraxxus like an ant. In picoseconds, every trace of Peraxxus's existence disappeared. The beam swallowed the rest of the ship's wall and two Yellow Lanterns too slow to dodge its wide range. It went on for lightyears, destroying a few planets and asteroids along is bright and deadly journey.

The bio-android brought his ring to his face, the energy wave dissipated. The blast alone was enough to wipe a solar system effortlessly, and that wasn't even the half its strength. This yellow band is legendary.

Cell took it off and crushed it.

"The fuck!" Sinestro fumed while Cell reverted to normal. "You were supposed to help me win against the Green Lanterns!"

Sinestro grunted before more words spilt out. He stopped himself from revealing that Cell _shouldn't_ have been able to take it off. He shouldn't be able to do anything unless he said so. That ring was purposely designed to allow him to control the user.

"About that," Cell replied while glamorizing his original body once more. "I am not your lapdog. I will pledge allegiance to no one, even if it's detrimental. And I'd rather not spend my precious time fighting in your frivolous war."

 _Frivolous?_

Sinestro jaw was wide open. He was utterly bemused. Even _if_ he really had no control of this insect, shouldn't the new power alone be enough to stick around? And precious time? The hell is this idiotic pestilence thinking? Does he not realize his own insignificance and purposelessness?

"Sinestro, do yourself a favor and rout with your posy before I eliminate you too. You're ruining the game."

… _Game?_

In truth, had he received that ring in his semi or imperfect form, he would've gladly accepted the ring and all its power for his autonomy. It was that new Saiyan pride of his that made him want to remove it. To him, such a potent weapon is like a cheat, it's not his strength. It's these Saiyan genes that made him want to fight across the universe in the first place.

Sinestro continued to keep his jaw wide open before stepping back and flying off.

"Move out! Return to base!" He yelled to his remaining crew.

The bulk of his small army just finished killing off the remnants of the Green Lantern party. With fresh blood in their hands, they embarked back to the Corps's base. The Lanterns that assisted Lobo in fighting Peraxxus as a token of good will retreated as well. In well under a minute, only Lobo and Cell remained.

Lobo walked up to his favorite green dude while stretching out his flayed, shirtless back.

"Crazy day, am I right?" The bounty hunter sputtered to the green bug.

There was a pause in Cell's response. Cell continued to question his decision. If he ever changed his mind, Sinestro probably would give him a ring. Still…

"Indeed." He replied, walking back to their spaceship.

* * *

Nothing remained of Metropolis. What little remnants left were destroyed in the skirmish between Batman and his allied villains versus the Justice League. Every building is flattened, every street broken and in varying stages of disrepair. The daily planet globe is still where Martian Manhunter saw it during the fight against C-19, but its pieces are scattered on the ground it lied in.

LexCorp headquarters suffered the most throughout the battles. The battle that led to Cell's perfection utterly destroyed the building. The area that used to contain the LexCorp building is now part of the crater that was made when Cell made his final transformation. As a result of losing his headquarters and the development center in Texas, it led to LexCorp losing 80% of its annual revenue. The organization is a skeleton only surviving through the direct intervention of Wayne Enterprises. One could even say it's a vassalage.

The androids displeasingly hovered above the mess that was LexCorp.

"Seems to me a lot of things have changed recently." Android 13 spoke, rubbing his chin while the breeze toyed with his hair.

"No shit." Android 15 opening his flask and drank its contents. Android 16 looked down at the road surrounding the building. He used his eyes to map the area.

"There has been a lot of footprints around that street approximately three weeks ago. I can determine that whatever occurred in that area destroyed the LexCorp headquarters, as well as the entire city."

"I concur," Android 19 replied, using his own calculations that came with the same conclusion. They were the only two among the six that had these advanced detection abilities. Unlike Android 16, he was meant to be the most subservient and without personality unlike the other five. He was the second android to be created by Dr. Nero.

"If he's not here, then where is he?" 18 inquired among her brethren. She didn't need to have that level of technological perception to deduce that something went down here.

"Simple, we search for him." Android 13 said.

13 looked towards space. The watchtower was up above, eerily defending the Earth with its presence. On the tower's end point is the laser weapon that destroyed the city they were standing on. To its side, however, was a camera. That camera allowed Bulma, Batman, and many others to be able to witness everything that's going on in the world. While the security on it is well made, any technological humanoid like himself can wiretap into it easily.

13's eyes filled with scientific jargon before displaying him full access to the camera. Whenever he moved his head, the camera did too. He could see everything it saw with his eyes.

Android 13 had another trick up his sleeve. His eyes were filled with orange symbols yet again. His head began to move rapidly, so did the camera. In moments, he was able to pinpoint Lex Luthor in Gotham. He was dining with an odd fellow in a batsuit, among other well armored men surrounding the room they were in.

"Okay, the hell was that?" Android 18 said.

In a snap, Android 13 removed himself from the camera and turned to 18.

"I can only detect people in a limited range. I used the satellite's camera to expand that range."

"It doesn't make any sense," She stammered. "Why did Nero give everyone different abilities?"

"I don't know," He replied while getting ready. "But the important thing is that we respect his wishes and eliminate that man. He is our sole enemy, and quite frankly, the only purpose of our existence."

In a huff, 13 boomed towards his located target, the rest of his brothers and sisters following closely behind. No matter how much she tried, Android 18 couldn't help but notice that empty feeling inside her.

* * *

 **Scene.**

 **That was pretty cool.** While basically almost every major superhero in the last few chapters is either gone to train in Trunks's universe or dead, six new androids are about to wreak havoc in order to kill their creator's killer, Luthor. While it may _seem_ that there's no one left to challenge them, there are so many characters that are about to step out of the woodworks next chapter.

Cell's having a field day across the universe! He finished off Peraxxus and is heading out to give another villain a hello. Remember, his "hit-list" is now only Maxima, Mongul, and Darkseid. While Cell had the element of surprise on Peraxxus, things might not be that easy when fighting the other three. They are also more tightly connected.

There's something else lurking out there now. The entity behind the source wall is heading towards Apokolips. If he gets the chance to influence someone's mind, the story will almost immediately reconnect back to the story on Earth. Trust me.

Now, part of the reasons why my story took so long to write was because I was thinking of an overarching theme in the story. Now that I've found it, I'll be updating every chapter to fit into this theme. I'll spoil it at the last chapter of this story (which is coming not too far, not too soon, and around the end of the year), but can you guys figure it out?

SO! **Release date**... eh... **sometime around** **August 25-27.** High School's coming soon, and it's very unpredictable, and homework crushes this fanfiction. I may or may not be consistent during the school year. You guys know that.

I don't want to bore you guys with my life, have fun with _yours_. **CYA NEXT TIME!**


	13. Cell vs The Universe Part 3

_Cell vs. the Universe, Part 3_

 _Invasion_

"Cell is nothing more than an arrogant fool."

Queen Maxima always felt purposeless. Even the royal life of a warrior species is still royal. She never really had to do anything, yet she could do _anything._ Up until adulthood, she always saw herself as nothing more than a puppet, where the generals go to war, the administrators make the laws, and the queen is just there to look pretty. Instead of living a lush life in Almerac, she decided, like many of her allies today, that it was her divine right as a powerful being to conquer lesser.

She didn't _really_ believe that.

As a grown woman, she spearheaded Almerac's unstoppable armies and conquered everything around the solar system and beyond. She enslaved billions, conquered trillions. Some of the things she did in the name of her people still bubbled in the back recesses of her mind like an unforeseen dagger, striking when she least expects it.

With her region solidified and too big to fail after coalescing these past few years, she is now back to where she started. She is nothing more than a glorified doll, the 'model citizen' the people should look up and strive to. In reality, her glory days were cut short decades, not because of the administration tying her hands in a not, but because she chose to stay put. She decided to live that meaningless life of parades and motivational speeches, to dine with off world governors and 'royally sign' laws that only help the people on paper. It was a decision she couldn't reverse in this new governmental system, and she hated making it every day.

But today, something different caught her attention. Instead of going to her many advisors or interplanetary affairs spokespeople, this man decided to talk to her directly.

"He might be an arrogant fool, but he did have the power to back it up. He did kill Peraxxus after all."

"Peraxxus! Peraxxus! Who the hell cares about Peraxxus!" She hollered back. Moments like these remind her that diplomacy should be left with the politicians.

Maxima sat atop her royal throne bought by her spoils of war. Before her was Gravyen, the third and the last remaining of Darkseid. Both of his brothers, Orion and Kalibak, were assigned the same task of helping his father obtain the anti-life equation. After years of fruitless searching, Kalibak defied his father and died on the spot by his father's near omnipotent omega-beams. Orion saw this as fuel to work even harder. Eventually, even he gave up on his search and tried to formulate a more sophisticated coup.

Orion gathered the same powers of the universe who live today: Maxima, Mongul, Peraxxus, Sinestro, hell, even Zod was invited to join. But when it was time to do the deed, only Zod showed. Everyone was too paralyzed in fear of fighting him that they couldn't realize that if they all fought together, they have a good chance of winning. In the end, his death was the most traumatizing thing that Grayven was forced to witness.

Perhaps, if Maxima wasn't too fearful of Darkseid's wrath, the universe could have been a better place. Maybe, if she didn't enslave and massacre people by the billions just some short years back, she wouldn't be so distressed over everything.

"You're missing the point. He started off as weak as those Earth peasants just months ago. Now, he was able to murder Peraxxus with ease. He had enough willpower and fear to take off a ring designed to control him. Isn't that worrisome?"

The slow trickle of doubt nudged Maxima. She desperately needed the time to think things over and wrestled the innumerous thoughts circulating in her head. Her mental struggle manifested physically when she uncomfortably shifted in her chair, her eyes filled with stress and the weight her world.

Grayven noticed all of this, using it to his advantage.

"If he comes right now, do you think your stretched thin armies are going to stall him? Do you think _you_ can stand up to him?"

 _There it goes again…_ She thought, as a twist of pride, doubt, and an overreaching sense of fear gripped her heart and tossed it around.

She breathed slowly, weathering out the storm inside her mind.

Maxima studied his face for a bit. The deep scars that clung to his face were recent. Why would he stick his neck so far to help his father?

"You really must love Darkseid to drag yourself to this side of the universe. All this for that fangled old zeta-beam project? What's it to you if you have boom tubes?"

"That's unimportant."

"Of course it isn't to you. You don't want to remind yourself of how Orion was more of a man than you'll ever be."

"He is not a man; he's a corpse."

After the bare minimum amount of time to think it over, she sighed.

"You'll have my answer tomorrow. I'm still busy with all this placation for a few off-world military installations."

"I understand. Have fun doing work from the pity party. Just remember what we've said here."

Grayven walked out the door with a guard escort. When the tall throne room doors closed on him, she felt an overwhelming amount of relief.

Queen Maxima eased her tenses and relaxed on her chair. Now that she has the time to think about it, of _course_ , she would never give him the zeta-beam. What he likes to forget is that she is a mature woman, not easily swayed by the right words or snarky comments. Even more troubling, someone who won't express their plans is doing so for a reason, and usually, that reason is detrimental.

Instead of following under Darkseid like a hound, perhaps it would be wise to contact Mongul, maybe formulate a plan to-

An explosion from the far west of the palace whipped out her thoughts. The four veteran soldiers that guard her all looked to her for what to do next.

"Scout the site and contact the garrison immediately. Have all guardsmen at the ready!" She hollered.

"Yes, mam!"

Heavy army boots thumped on the polished marble, as the four veterans ventured diligently towards the area. Each soldier was cladded in thick black armor, with swords that have seen their fair share of battles during the Almeracian conquests. As they got closer and closer, more guards started to follow behind them after leaving their various guard posts dotting the palace. When they can see the smoke and debris, the four became a force of 50.

"Stop!" The leading guard from the queen's throne room yelped out, a sentinel. He held his hands outward to stop anyone from going beyond him. He peered around the corner to see the point blank zone of the blast. Oddly enough, no one was there, just the body of a guard unfortunate to be stationed there during the explosion. The sentinel briefly took a moment to honor the dead man.

After much caution and preparation, the guard motioned his hand forward. The pack followed.

Moving north of the blast site, they hear the faint sounds of the clash of weapons. The security force moved at full speed to help defend their brothers. They turned the final corner to see a pale, hairy man hack one of their fellow guards to death with a hook chain. He was shirtless, or more likely; his garment was ripped apart after fighting so many people.

Two other guards unaware of the friendly force closing in fled the scene, only for one of them to be grappled back for a quick death. When the other saw this, he ran even faster.

"You monster!" The sentinel screeched while the guard's blood splattered across the pale demon's face like war paint.

Lobo turned towards them, threw the guard's corpse out of the way, and smiled. His teeth were caked in the blood of honorable men, same as his hands, face, and exposed hairy chest. At first sight of this man, the lead guard already has an unimaginable hatred for him. Other guards looked and murmured in disgust of this beast in a man's body.

"Die!"

The guard army charged in with close ranks towards their only opponent. The enemy did the same, moving so fast that the sentinel didn't even notice the sword moving straight for his throat.

Even from as far east as the throne room, Maxima hears the cries of her people. Even honorable and powerful men, many of whom followed Maxima in battle, can die a death just as agonizing as their lesser. She could not bear to think of the horrors she sent her veteran guards too, the people who protected her every day, people who followed her no matter what she asked to do five years ago.

Perplexed, Maxima scratched her hair until she could feel her scalp. The faint feeling of a new presence in the room stopped her pondering entirely.

"Sentinel Theodore? Did you subdue the intruder?" She called out in the distance the name of her veteran sentinels, one of her friends. There was no reply.

She scanned the throne room for a hint of life. Darkness smothered the room; it would be almost too easy to slip in undetected. The queen's throne itself is a personification of how she is treated in her self-made bureaucracy: Glamorous, but nothing special. The crystal window panes fill most of the light in the room that shine the light of the sun like a medieval church. The Earth gold imported throne stands out from the marble floor in a way that made everything else look cheap and old.

When she realized the futility of her search, she stopped, muttered something about renovating the place, and stood up.

"Show yourself. Don't cower in darkness like some snake."

As if on cue, the silhouette she swore she saw earlier appeared in dim daylight as a tall, slender alien.

"Who are you?"

The alien moved and is revealed more in the limelight. The figure she once saw a black shadow emerged as a tall, green humanoid with dark spots. After feeling a sense of familiarity, she continued to study his features.

 _That look..._

The being made just the slightest grin as if he knew what she was thinking. There's no doubt about it that this creature is from Earth, that same monstrosity from nowhere that killed Peraxxus for no reason. He became even more terrifying when she realized these things.

"I see. So you're the one called Cell, right? You came here to fight, didn't you?"

The words that formed through her lips went unheard. Cell continued to tower and stalk over her. The deafening silence was only disturbed by the explosions likely caused by Cell's partner in crime every once in a while.

Maxima took these precious moments to analyze her opponent as she got taught. One can be forgiven calling him an overgrown insect from Earth. The few human-like features on his body such as his face are quite beautiful, surprisingly. It's as if a human was inside a shell.

What she recognized immediately was his power. Any attempt to mind control someone with that amount of power is pointless. It's so vast that it's like staring into an abyss, but what's dishonorable about it all was that it wasn't his own. She heard that he had to absorb hundreds of thousands of people to get to where he is now. Guys like him, people who don't work for their strength, don't deserve to fight. Despite knowing this know, there's still has a ball of saliva forming in her mouth, her stomach still gut-wrenched with butterflies.

"Not one to talk, are you?"

"Not at all my queen," Cell said, raising his hands to form his combat stance. "I already spend enough time talking to one dread-headed individual."

 _It's now or never. To die, in combat like this, is a real death. THIS is how I redeem myself!_

With a war yell loud enough for those fighting Lobo on the other side to hear, Maxima lunged forward and kicked him as hard as she could. The android staggered a bit, giving enough time for Maxima to kick him through the marbel wall and into the city.

"Everyone!" She yelped, landing on the ground in a boom. "Leave our vicinity immediately!"

The people always busied around the royal palace, each with their unique stories and professions. There were more market stalls then people at some point. After seeing a weird greenish bug fall out of the palace and their queen coming after it, though, the people quickly dispersed.

Maxima saw him coming upright and formed her combat stance. There was a spark in the air. Maybe it's just her nature, but there's just _something_ about this Cell that made her want to fight him badly.

"That look on your face," Cell grunted. "So I'm not the only one that wants to fight?"

"You're not entirely wrong on that."

"I've seen my fair share of people like you, the Saiyans, Amazonians, and the like. I've fought them all before, so let's see if you bring anything new."

While didn't realize it at first, she was smirking to her heart's content. That small and sudden spark is burning brilliantly in her heart, pumping her blood and invigorating her spirit. She's fought Amazonians before, but if a Saiyan is anything like them, then they're her type of people.

With a grunt, Maxima boomed towards Cell. She fought faster than the speed of light, punching and kicking hundreds of thousands of times a second. With every attack, he was able to block, match, and exceed it. It angered her, drove her to fight even faster. Dust and electrical discharge produced by their speed surrounded them. Objects in their immediate area began to float away, and surfaces that were too close to the fighting started to crack.

Their fists collided again, creating a shockwave that took the whole city district with it. The two reeled back their hands and cranked up another punch, this one with greater intensity. The ground was torn apart, creating a crater where they were standing. If a random citizen were anywhere in eyesight during that collision, they would be impossible to tell from debris.

Each blow the pair parried resulted in explosive shockwave. The transparent field of pressurized air managed to shatter everything around it, excluding the two combatants who created it. One fist managed to come to blows with Cell's face. He spewed blood, his lower jaw nearly misaligned. After he had seen the trickle of his purple blood, he roared, and gut punched the queen in such a way that her insides felt like they were oozing with something. She knelt down, waiting for red stream or vomit that was to come next. When nothing came, she tried to get up and attack more, to keep the fight going for as long as she could.

Before she could even try to move, a strong force pulled her from her crimson hair. When Cell and Maxima locked eyes, all she could see in him was the utter discontent he had for her. It was then when she realized that the fighting they had done was just a mere glimpse of his power.

"So _weak,_ but, you weren't the first to disappoint me."

She wanted to snap back, to scream in protest about his blatant hypocrisy, about his fake strength, but an energy ball he held in his free hand shut her up. At the last moment, she activated her energy barrier before he ignited the explosive ball. A picosecond later and she would just be ash to mix in with the dust blowing around.

For a moment, all she could see is whiteness. Her vision restored bit by bit, to the point where she could see Cell's annoyed face.

"Useful technique, but unfortunately for you..." The words struck an awful chord in Maxima. The venom in his voice already tells her that the things aren't going to look peachy in a few moments. She braced for what's to come.

"You're already dead."

While she did defend herself by putting her arms in a guard, she didn't think of raising her force shield. She was knocked into the sky before she even realized it, and kicked again by the same crippling force as she moved further into the atmosphere. One hit led to another, and she eventually found herself nothing more than a ping pong ball. Each blow had so much force that it made her cough up blood like no one's business. The people that crowded the royal palace earlier now look up to the sky to see the radial blurs of the battle. Some of the stronger folk like the guardsmen were able to watch their leader die an agonizing death.

One last blow forced her spiraling down. She could try to move, but the pain was so much that anything less than blinking is impossible.

Maxima collided with the ground in a quake, a dust cloud sweeping over her. Cell's shrouded figure was already nearing, trapping her with the unholy power of hopelessness. When he appeared from the ash, his angry frown was more or less a manifestation of this discontent he felt the moment their auras met.

She tried to move, tried to find a way out of this and perhaps live to fight another day, but she couldn't move at all. Almost all her bones were broken to a permanent paralyze. Judging the look on Cell's face, he probably figured that out too.

Cell raised his hand over her. Light, cell-sized particles of energy reverberated to his call to amass. It was then when she realized what was accumulating under that creature's hand, when she noticed the pitch blackness that shouldn't exist in that nightmare's eyes, was when something clicked in her.

She started to laugh as hard as she could, tears streaking down her cheeks.

"You think you can beat Darkseid with _that_ power?" Her face crinkled into a smile, her slightly damaged throat making a laugh that sounded more like a croak.

"I've never seen anyone more stupid in my life!"

She used what energy she had left to bang her fists on the ground, with enough power behind them to create cracks on the littered city path.

If there could ever be a moment where Maxima felt contempt with her life, a moment where all her sins are irrelevant, a moment where she could die without any regrets, a fulfilled life, it was now.

"You wouldn't even last ten- "

A large tail invaded her throat, absorbing every cell in her body. The queen could feel it drain her life away, the very essence of her being, nevertheless her body. She looked up. Blackness, blacker than anything she thought possible surrounded his body. She always suspected these things were there, like when she met Darkseid for the first time, but on death throes they were plain to see. Whenever she thought of the bad things she has done in her life, it doesn't even begin to compare with whatever Cell did to get such an aura. She could see his eyes narrowing as if he felt a tang of pleasure by doing this. If she could, she would cringe.

Her muscles closed in on themselves, her insides churning into digestible powder. Despite the fact that this sounds very brutal, she couldn't feel a thing. All she could feel was her body absorbed into the same abyss she felt earlier. Except now, she could tell she wasn't alone. Deep within the blackness, hundreds of thousands of souls cried out in agony. Maxima was going to join them.

And in the last moments, before her consciousness faded into the abyss, she could see Cell's partner come into view. She knew she heard his name from somewhere, but she's too far gone to bother remembering. Flesh Almeracian blood was plastered all around his body as if he just ripped through an army. It stained his hands. It stained his heart, his aura. And what does he do? He smiles. He smiled to his comrade as if he just saved a baby. He has a deep blackness in his aura too; they were meant for each other.

Her vision evaporated. All she could see was the darkness, and the feeling of something reprehensibly evil dragging her down.

* * *

Just a short distance away from the battleground, Grayven prepared his small traveling ship for flight through the boom tube.

He was only a few corridors down from the throne room when shit started to hit the fan. The Royal Almeracian guards tried to seize him, thinking that the explosion was his plot to have Maxima murdered for whatever asinine thought train. Only Grayven knew the truth— Cell was here, and he was ready to fight.

The guards were an easy kill for the trained killer, but Cell? Anything and anyone less than Darkseid can and will be put in their place in the pecking order.

He carved his path through the eastern side of the palace while Cell and Lobo fought in the west. After killing all the guards in his way and a politician now and then to screw up Maxima's empire a bit more, he made a run for it in the space docking areas right before Cell crashed in the street. In the chaos, Grayven bolted for his ship, catching only a glimpse of this infamous Cell. That single moment will haunt him for the rest of his life.

He couldn't see it, he couldn't feel it, but there was this unimaginably vast aura surrounding Cell. In that aura was a pitch blackness that rivaled even his father. When he talked about Cell with Maxima, he was only trying to coax her into believing him. Now he knows for a fact that this nightmarish creature is no joke.

His ship only recently left the boom tube portal. Grayven sits in his chair, peering through the window to see the planet Rann, home of this so-called zeta-beam. He clicked a few set of buttons to have a square digital screen of Darkseid beside the window. As always, he looked displeased.

"News to report, I hope?" His voice sounded mighty, even through a digital line.

"I am docking on Rann right now. I'll have the zeta-beam in a few hours or less."

"Good work my son. Report back the moment you retrieve it."

The call closed with a soft click when Darkseid ended it immediately after responding. He had guests to attend to.

While Grayven sat further back in his chair to stretch out, he noticed something that even the video call could captivate. Darkseid's aura is far, _far_ larger than Cell's. Maybe he just sees things when he's thinking about these invisible things that only feel like they're there, but nevertheless, it's still interesting.

Grayven braced himself for the force of entering Rann's atmosphere. His job will be easy, as Adam Strange, Rann's greatest hero, was absorbed by Cell months ago.

* * *

Apokolips, in Earth terms, is having a renaissance.

The conquests Maxima led has brought a stronger relationship between the two kingdoms. Despite the need of boom tubes, Maxima had a significant number of her elite units trained in Apokolips by Granny Goodness, a gesture of Darkseid's goodwill. As compensation, riches from the spoil of war slowly poured out of Maxima's hands, allowing Apokolips to flourish. Not that any of these things mattered to Darkseid.

Darkseid sat on his throne, brooding alone. All Darkseid wanted was the Zeta-Beam. That Zeta-Beam may be the only thing capable of bringing him to the source wall. There, he can get the anti-life equation and rule the entire universe without the need for these petty alliances, allying himself with inferiors.

Maxima, Mongul, Peraxxus, Sinestro, Zod... they're all his toys. Every one of them is interconnected straight through Darkseid. Only Darkseid united them against oppressors like the Green Lanterns and the Justice League. If it weren't for him, they would fight and war against each other like there's no tomorrow. They will bend their will to him soon enough. All will be Darkseid in time.

His underlings opened the doors to his throne. Zod stepped forth; the gangrene looking guards barred his comrades from entry. He looked as if he was a fish out of water, pale skinned by the almost petrifying fear of contacting Darkseid face to face. Before Zod was allowed to begin work on obtaining the anti-life equation, Darkseid showed him through the canvas of Orion what will happen if he fails him. Such horrors Darkseid committed right then, and there are so indescribable that he quickly became another one of his willing and fearful servants.

Darkseid felt back up his thoughts. Somewhere in between the ideas of invading Earth to the thoughts of executing Cell in his inevitable arrival, came one sentence that brought his attention to full swing.

 _I have the anti-life equation._

The voice came as an invasive thought, one that spoke in the sweet tune of another. It spoke pleasant verses of things he wanted to hear. It said to him that he could have Superman's head on a platter in days. The more he listened, the more he found himself sucked into something larger, and yet, entirely complicit with it because the voice edged him on.

If anyone were in the room with him, they would notice that his eyes have flared a dark shade of red and that a faint, red like smoke that descended from the sky has imbued in his aura.

* * *

There was a particular element in the air that Bruce didn't like. Call it the human version of Spidey sense, but there just _something_ that wasn't right. Nearly a decade spent patrolling the city around these night hours gave him these near-instinct feelings. He looked behind him to the window pane revealing the outside. Far below, he could see the sidewalk bustling with party-goers, night owls, thugs looking for respite, all the like. Gotham's always clambering with people when the sun's down. Not that he can't blame the younger ones, he partied as hard as them back in the day.

Bruce looked back to see Luthor hungrily gobbling his plate of spaghetti. The two sat surrounded by Intergang guards, the only people still either dumb or low enough to still stick with the cesspool that is LexCorp. That, or they just want the money. The only reason why the several-story Italian restaurant even allowed such heavy armament was because of the million dollars Luthor wiggled in his hand.

"It's a bit hard to talk to someone when they stuff their mouth with food the second they swallowed."

The immobilized billionaire tried to speak amidst the mouthful of the spiced Parmesan goodness, but only managed to spout incoherent munching noises.

Luthor ended his endless meal with a loud burp, one that irked Iva, the very guard who shot down the computerized Dr. Nero. She has a scar on her face where Batman beat her the most. Her eyes locked with Batman for a moment while he scanned the room for the umpteenth time. Although it was Batman who paid for the cost of her scar tissue healing in the coming week, she still wants her revenge. Maybe through the form of a paycheck or with his blood, but she will.

"Time is of the essence. If Cell arrives today, what are we going to do? All of the world's strongest heroes are either dead or gone to some off-universe glorified training room. We don't have time to waste sitting here and- "

Luthor lazily placed his finger over Batman's mouth.

"Sssssssh."

He brought his glass of sprite to his mouth and finished the remaining contents. The acidy aftertaste excited him, made him make a loud burp from the overflow of it all. The warm food, greasy yet sustaining, forced anvils on his eyelids and brought him closer to his bed.

"Relax, bats. Cell's probably not coming back until 2100. There's just too many Superman level guys out in the cosmos to keep him busy."

"I wouldn't count on it," Batman lurched forward from his chair, coming as close to contact with Luthor as possible. "Cell isn't like any of the villains we've faced before. He's adaptable, and could multiply is strength and knowledge in the fraction of the time it would take even Superman. If there's even a 1% chance that Cell might arrive soon, we _need_ to prepare for it. That's literally the only reason I accepted your invite."

"And I thought you wanted some quality time," Luthor replied in a childish pout.

Batman rolled his eyes and peered out the back window once more. Three of the oddest looking people walked into view, looking place to place without rhythm or smooth motion, most likely trying to find someone or something. Batman paid them no heed. There're all sorts of creatures roaming this planet looking odder than these folk. What he did find weird before reverting his attention was the blue ribbon incorporated in their outfits. If they were an ordinary gang, Batman would've figured it out by now.

"Day-dreaming Batman? Really?"

"As you can see, I'm trying to protect you."

"As _you_ can see, I have guards that are doing that for me."

"I don't have time for this."

Batman has been sitting down for at least half an hour with heavy equipment weighing him down, so getting up was a challenge harder than Bane.

It was when Batman was no more than halfway up was when two red beams jutted out the window. One beam hit the ceiling and continued towards the night sky, while the other went through the head of one of Luthor's security guards. The beams were incisor level accurate and pea-sized, so it could've been possible that the middle-aged man could've lived if his fellow guards had the time to care for him.

Several more beams came out the window. The guards had already begun to secure Luthor and the perimeter, sometimes dodging red energy bullets by a nose hair. One final blast hurled larger than the rest, tearing open a hole in the restaurant. One guard was knocked down by the sheer force of the explosion, and several others stumbled with their footing.

Two figures appeared from the smoke. One with a trucker hat, half his face removed and baggy trousers, and another one pale, even more muscular, looking as if he fought with the Native Americans 300 years ago.

Guns were drawn and firing, but each bullet managed to do absolutely nothing. Without any serious firepower or artillery, they might as well be firing paintball shells. Most of the guards already know the drill when fighting opponents like these. Five of the dozen armed guardsmen dipped the fuck out, while the inexperienced seven continued to stall as meat shields.

Android 13 started to hold the bullets in his hand and advanced.

* * *

Batman, Iva, and Luthor were already in the elevator by the time the firing started. If it weren't for Luthor's disability, they would've already been making their break towards the streets.

"Iva, don't push so hard next time." Luthor gasped out amidst humming and the light reverberations of the elevator going down. "The rush is making my last meal come up my throat."

"Alright, But after this is over, we're gonna need to talk about raises."

"My hands are tied up with money at the moment, you know, with the whole headquarters with documents worth billions blowing up."

"Then how are you able to afford all those soldiers?"

Since he uses a specialized scouter for senior members, Batman was capable of making an alert in Gotham by a few clicks. He also installed a mechanism to call in his many vehicles such as his bat plane. In two clicks, he had his Batmobile roaring out from the bat cave, startling Alfred Pennyworth.

"You have any allies left to call on?"

"No one except the Intergang. Something about trying to kill everyone with C-19 ticked them off."

"No duh."

The elevator clicked open to reveal the lobby, somewhat obscured by a small, purplish man in front of them. The people of the restaurant crowded the entrance doors behind the midget, leaving Android 15 perfect space to kill the three.

"Outta the way midget," Luthor said with a smarmily inquisitive eye. In the distance, he could hear Batman trying to shut him up.

"Die, scum."

The android opened his palm and quickly charged an energy ball. In the last second of opportunity, Batman fished in his utility belt and grabbed a grenade. He lobbed it over despite the persistent noes Luthor yelled out.

Time marched on slowly. The grenade smacked against Android 15's forehead and activated. Instead of the explosion that Luthor anticipated would kill them all, the device made a few churning noises and dropped on the ground. Sparks dangled out and about the instrument before seemingly deactivating.

After the three had stopped marveling at the device, they looked back up to their assailant. His body slumped down, his yellow framed glasses resting on the floor.

"Oh, you deactivated him," Luthor spoke while scratching his nonexistent hair. "I could've thought of that,"

"No, no you couldn't."

Iva pushed Luthor's wheelchair while the three exited the vacated restaurant. The police have already arrived, barricading Italia Explosia with their vehicles. Many of them had smiles and grins on their face when they noticed Batman coming out. There were a few 'we got this in the bag' and 'why did we even come?' amongst the dozen officers. More than three-quarters of them have already seen this scenario play out.

"Batman!" One of the cops called out, standing next to his car with his pistol drawn out. He pushed the desire to throw in the towel and just go home, and binge watch Netflix after seeing the best guardian of the enter the limelight. "I've counted two assailants at the top floor! Get in there and kick some- "

"Get your men to clear out the area. The Justice League is handling this."

 _"_ The _Justice League?"_ The officer mumbled to himself.

The young officer, lightly stunned by his words, grabbed his speaker from inside the police car and passed along Batman's message to all incoming and stationed Central Gotham police.

Batman looked towards the west. In the distance, two things were about to arrive. Wondergirl was flying towards him while she carried Aquaman. At the same time, his batmobile is about to arrive, its engine guzzling loud enough for him to hear at the end of the block. He struggled on which to walk towards.

"Haven't seen you out in a while," Wondergirl spoke to him while she descended, dropping Aquaman. Batman nodded back as his form of greeting. Once Aquaman was on his feet, he greeted Batman as well with a strong handshake.

Wonder Girl had about a trillion questions for Batman. Where was he these past few weeks, just after Cell left the planet? Why was he with Luthor? Why is there a woman with an assault rifle strung on her shoulder? Why does he look so damper?

After addressing the look on his face for a moment longer, Wonder Woman's student realized she wasn't going to get any answers.

Batman has been working as hard, if not harder than the rest of his super-powered colleagues when Cell terrorized the planet. He was with the rest of them throughout the whole endeavor, from the moment they made their first meeting about Cell, to the moment when their ideologies divided them. But when the history books will reel in, it would be him who is excluded.

Even though he wears a cowl, his expedited aging shows through from the new wrinkles around his exposed mouth.

"Believe me when I say that this isn't the only alert." Supergirl began.

"What?" His eyes expanded.

"There are two other alerts in the east and west side of Gotham. The League is stretched thin, but we'll manage with you here."

Batman looked around the area. The locals and night owls he saw not even half an hour ago disappeared, leaving the streets in eerie silence.

"What's the situation here Batman?" Aquaman said.

"Enemies, likely targeting me or Luthor. There's two on the top floor and a third that I disabled on the bottom. He's probably rebooting right now."

"Alright, we'll take it from here."

Batman grunted a goodbye, unable to muster anything more from this exhausting day. Around the same time, Luthor gave his own goodbyes to Batman for the assistance he's given him, along with a peace offering of a stipend of cash to fix his crusty black armor, to which he declined.

Batman started to prepare his scouter to teleport into the watchtower, yawning as he clicked. Until his invitation to the restaurant, he was working non-stop on ideas to destroy Cell. Without any DNA of Cell or any of his off shot clones, he'll have to find his own way around.

 _Unless…_

"Wondergirl,"

She was talking to Aquaman to discuss a takedown strategy. She stopped and whizzed back towards Batman.

"Huh?"

"Don't destroy them, I might need their parts."

"Yeah yeah, I got ya,"

* * *

It didn't take too long for the crew to find the hyperbolic time chamber. The coordinates Trunks set right before the ship transported set the time machine to appear right above Kami's Tower. After decades of neglect, both Kami and Korin's tower lies in shambles, the tower cracked to the point where one would think it would crumble if something too big were to sit atop.

The group was led by Trunks as they searched the many hallways together, trying to find 'the brown door with a gold handle' that Bulma described. They eventually reached it after splitting up, when Supergirl yelled for the group to circle back to her.

"So this is it," Trunks said, clutching the door handle. What he knows of the training room is very little, even less the dangers the room presents, or why Bulma said not to pack any provisions. What he does understand is that the fate of the people watching his resting hand all hinges on this place. He will never abandon them.

What he knows of the training room is very little, even less the dangers the room presents, or why Bulma said not to pack any provisions. However, even the likes of Goku as a child wasn't able to train in such conditions, and Gohan himself unsuccessfully tried the chamber a short while after all the Z-Fighters died.

However, things are desperate. There is no turning back after all that's happened, the hardships and the deadly turmoil over the past months. The fate of the people watching his resting hand all hinges on this place. He will never abandon them.

Trunks looked back, seeing Superman nod at him with approval. He turned back around, took a quick deep breath, and opened the door to a pitch whiteness.

* * *

And... **scene.**

I'll admit, this chapter isn't one of the most jam-packed, but it's definitely building into a climax. Seeds that I've planted in this chapter will decide the fate of the story since we're coming towards the end game. For example, Darkseid being influenced by the 'entity'.

Without the main cast of heroes, there's a lot of B-list and new characters I'll be using like John Stewart, whom we've met a few chapters ago. The next chapter will also show what we're gonna need to be able to defeat Cell, while Cell has some fun with Mongul. Unlike Peraxxus or Maxima, however, he's much more prepared.

 **STAY TUNED.**


	14. Cell vs The Universe Part 4

_Chapter 14_

 _The Call_

Trunks awoke in a hushed, forced gasp. After a yawn and stretch, he opened his eyes, took a pained breath, and realized he was still in the time chamber. Breathing in the air was a challenge on its own, the stifling feeling of the place leading to many uncomfortable nights and difficulty in sustaining fights. The temperature fluctuates from chilling colds to sizzling heats. While gravity is far higher than Earth's, their built-up tolerance by using the Watchtower's training chambers made the increase negligible. The only real threat the room possess is the random bursts of dense air, hard enough to make it almost too hard to breathe at times, like now.

He got up from his bed and suited up in the blue armor Bulma gave them in a pack. The padded armor, gloves, and boots were flexible and familiar looking. Its appearance one of soldiers of an empire from a time they know nothing about. What he does know, is that the look of the outfit was supposed to reflect his father's armor, as he remembered putting this same box of armor in the time machine so many months ago. So odd, he thought in his childhood, so odd was the design. He likened it to space warriors and pirates, and was surprised when his mom told him he was right in thinking so.

Trunks sat on his bed, running his hands through lengthening hair. He remembered how lonely his mother felt at times. He would wake up at the fall of night and see his mother staring at the starlit sky, tears swelling up her face. Sometimes it was her mourning the loss of her friends, and other times the hopelessness of it all. But when she really cried, when she stopped tinkering away at the time machine or mapping models on her computer, it was for Vegeta, his father. He could tell just by the miserable look on her face.

Trunks clenched his hands and closed his eyes. For the longest time, he desperately wanted to bring back the world mother knew. If strength wasn't the problem, he would've destroyed them in an instant. An instant! Then he could bring mom's friends back, Vegeta, Gohan... But why does it have to be this way?

He ground his teeth until they started to crack.

 _If only … If only-_

"If only what?"

Trunks whizzed towards the longer was he sitting in bed, rather, he's literally in the middle of nowhere. The door house is far from sight. It's just him, the vastness of empty white space, and a short man with the most peculiar haircut imaginable. Once he figured it out, he was unmistakable.

"F-fathe- "

"Look at you Trunks," The man said whilst taking a step closer. "You're human and Saiyan. You have the most potential out of all of us." The shadows of hundreds of Saiyans materialized behind him. All of them, even his father looked they would gun the next man in sight. Their ferocity, their inner strength projected so much more power than they really had. It made Trunks feel more like a speck rather than the strongest.

"You have the genes, the training, even the intelligence like your mother. And yet you're still quivering like a madman at the mere thought of the enemy. In that, you're even weaker than us."

Trunks looked back at the ghosts. Every one of them had a story to tell, whether it was a bloody scar or an ancestral headwrap. They were strong in areas Trunks barely touched.

"This is more than what you guys have been through! I can't do this alone!" Trunks turned back to Vegeta. "How the hell am I supposed to- "

"Shut up!"

The room went pitch black. Vegeta's hair turned a bright gold in a transformation that knocked Trunks off his feet. The shadows of former Saiyans disappeared while his aura grew to a tremendous, practically cartoonish size, taking up all of Trunks's view. Within the blinding light, he could see just a smidge of something at every corner. The ghosts didn't leave, they became part of him, part of his strength.

"You're missing something, your spirit. Your _anger._ No matter how strong your opponent is, they aren't invincible. They bleed. They die."

Trunks's vision filled up with a new image, one of the past in a distant place. Through the eyes of his father, he saw the battle between Goku and Frieza over a sweltering pot of rock. Volcanoes spew out toxic gas and lava, yet the two still went at it. The earth beneath them rumbled, and lightning from grayish clouds above struck down from above, and yet the two still fought.

Frieza was bruised, breathless, and unequivocally pissed. The Super Saiyan Goku was the same way, but he always kept an ever-so-slight smirk on his face. Even Vegeta could see it, which is why his face went red with anger. It was all too clear that Goku was pissed as well, his face did all the talking there no doubt, but unlike Frieza, he was focused rather than blithering and bickering. The two could've been equally as strong and it wouldn't have changed the outcome.

Before the two could come to blows once more, the image dissipated back to whiteness, with a frowning Vegeta in front of it all.

"You have no pride, no will, no anger, and I can't allow that to continue. You show emotions more human than Saiyan. You'll never defeat him unless you could even figure out what that damn word means."

"But… but that doesn't make any sense! It's all abstract! I need real help if I'm ever going to beat him!"

Vegeta's golden aura expanded once more, doubling in size. Trunks transformed and charged up his own aura. The two clashed and mixed like two fires trying to become the dominant one, but it was clear that Vegeta outshone him. Trunks's aura subsumed into Vegeta's golden sea, swirling him back and forth until all he could feel is the immense power. He could hear something amidst the waves. Whispers, at first, but they became louder and louder. It was the ghosts, and he could hear them slither in words like _weak_ , or _pathetic_ , or _worthless_. It struck him like venom, but at the same time, angered him. He tried to move, to firm himself and perhaps do something to this threat, but nothing he tried could do more than inch out his muscles. But what felt even worse than the sensation was the fact that he didn't use all his power. He barely tried at all.

He closed his eyes once more. Soon enough, after being swiped back and forth so many times, it ceased. Trunks looked back up. The sky and the ground turned red with a burning temperature. Vegeta was nowhere to be seen, but his presence still lingered.

He looked a bit higher, and sure enough, his father was hovering above him. Vegeta was held by the neck by a green, slender like figure. He dropped him, giving Trunks a closer look at his whitened eyes and bloody body.

Immediately, maybe even before Trunks even realized it himself, his golden aura flared to a level he never thought he could accomplish. There was something seeping inside him, something that blotched his thinking. Not that he cared though. His muscle mass increased, even against the low humidity and heat.

 _It's just a test, dammit! Focus!_ _ **Foocus!**_

The pounding in his head stopped. Exhausted, he let out one last flare of strength. For no longer than a moment, lightning shot out of his body and quickly retreated. He spun to the ground and allowed the redness to take over him.

* * *

Trunks opened his eyes. He was still wearing the outfit Bulma gave them, and surprisingly enough, in the same hand-over-chin position.

After putting on the new clothes, he walked over to the long mirror beside his bed and gazed at his reflection. He could've sworn that the more he looked, the more he felt the presence of his father. The more he tried to seek it, the more he could feel presences around him. In fact, there was quite a large one nearby.

The time traveler walked towards the kitchen area, where he saw Wonder Woman take out an enormous drumstick of meat from the refrigerator in the most cartoonish way possible.

"Slept well?" She spoke with a gleaming smile.

"Yeah, well, uh… I-"

"Too slow!" Wonder Woman chugged the drumstick high above them. "Quick, hit it with a blast!"

Despite the awkward start, Trunks blasted the flesh to a crisp texture. The meat fell happily into Diane's hands, who, although close to salivating, inspected it with an inquisitive eye.

"Not _too_ bad," She began, examining it with a raised eyebrow. "A bit overcooked here and there, but hey, when you're hungry..."

"It's not like I'm a walking microwave." He chuckled.

"Right, that's what Superman's heat-vision is for."

Her teeth were millimeters from sinking into the morsel before it turned to ash before her eyes. Her shocked look was all the more priceless when even the bone turned to an ashen gray.

"And this is why we have an unlimited food!"

The two laughed as she grabbed a new drumstick from the refrigerator, this time blasted by Trunks with a lower intensity.

"Good work!" She mouthed before eating half the meat in a bite.

"I try my best."

Trunks waved her a goodbye and continued towards the outer known area of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, where the rest of the party was training.

Superman fought Supergirl and Superboy at the same time, the three flying from place to place as they tried single blow against Kal-El. Trunks could sense the growing power between the three. Supergirl and Superboy's presences feel the same in weight when compared to each other. Superman's, however, was far larger, more than both of theirs combined, and it showed in their battle.

The two had him cornered in the floor, batting at him from different angles. There was a sluggish feeling in each strike, enough of which where one would assume just how long they had before passing out. The man of steel was still able to block every attack that came his way in an increasingly faster blur. He blew them both away in a pressurized gust of air. The two were swept away for a distance and fell flat on the ground, battered and defeated. All three of their armors splintered in multiple ways, and from the heavy breaths they took, they could have very well been fighting since Trunks went to sleep.

Once it was clear who was the victor, Trunks made his way towards Superman.

"So, tell me," Superman began while dusting himself off. His armor looked out of shape in both the damage to it and its actual size. The proportions were made in Vegeta's size, as such, it made him look almost ridiculous compared to the rest of them.

He motioned himself towards Trunks's direction.

"We've been here for quite some time now. You were right about this place being great for improving our strength. Everyone improved, but we can't just rely on that."

"You're asking me for the plan? I'd figure the big man of steel would already have one."

"Honestly kid," He cracked his back and brushed away chipped off pieces of his armor. "We've come too far and lost too many people to lose now. We need a miracle alright, but it'll come eventually. So, nothing?"

"It's not practical," Trunks replied while thinking about his dream. "But I do have something in mind. I'll explain later."

Trunks walked up and went into his combat stance. The dream about his father took precedence over everything since he woke up. It was fading into obscurity by the minute, but one thing he kept to memory was that numb feeling. Not in the body, but in the mind. It's a vaguely familiar feeling already, but something also tells him it's part of understanding what his father meant by returning to his Saiyan prowess- Whatever that means.

Superman primed himself. Supergirl and Superboy managed to force themselves back to the kitchen table, eating away with Wonder Woman whilst watching the impending battle.

Trunks nudged himself closer. He only ever spared out of necessity, like testing himself strategically before fighting his next enemy. But everything about this is spontaneous and unnecessary, and yet, he still wanted to go through with it. He wasn't more eager for something in his life. Maybe it was the fact that Superman's presence feels so much bigger than his own. It's odd to think about, but eventually, he found himself abiding by it.

With a smirk, Trunks dashed towards Superman, himself doing the same less than a moment after.

* * *

Gotham's streets rapidly descended into chaos following the attack of the seven androids. While there was time to clear most of the civilians from the most dangerous zones of Central Gotham, the east and west barely had so much as an emergency call. Millions of people are still cocooned in their homes like sitting ducks. Naturally, such an opportunity wouldn't be missed by Gotham's degenerates and the like, and as such, gangs, Joker or Penguin's criminal enterprises, and other nefarious groups joyfully took to the streets. Law enforcement personnel are already stretched too thin, much of this having to do with the amount of them already killed fighting off a plethora of different threats. Even so, no one these things were even the beginning of the GCPD's problems.

Android 17's words went unheard over the unbearable sound of explosions. The two were wasting away Central Gotham for an hour now, at least, that's what he thinks after seeing the utterly dilapidated buildings around him. His sister did way more than just 'cause a ruckus', rather, she bore down on anything and everything with a flurry of yellow fire, regardless of who or what it is. Sometimes, 17 wouldn't even have Each bang against it left more and more cracks, something that kept John sweating profusely. He helped at first, but blasting people wasn't his thing.

Annoyed, 17 spoke again.

"Sis?" He bellowed.

Android 18 ceased her incessant fire and turned back at him. "Huh?"

"This is pointless."

"Ugh," She groaned, putting out one last blast for good measure. "Having one of your stupid episodes again? I thought that slap back in Antarctica fixed a couple screws in there."

"Don't you get it? We're killing just for a little diversion!"

"It's efficient, and it's what we have to do."

"But isn't it more 'efficient' to just eliminate Luthor together?"

18 sighed and took a gander to her right. She brushed her hair to the side so she could hear the whispers of explosions and aftershock, definitely the work of her comrades on the other side of the city.

"We don't call the shots."

17 stared at a group of survivors too frightened to move earlier by the explosions. When they noticed the still in their attack, they ran as fast as possible. One of them was as young as a little girl, her left shoe missing and a bloody gash on her elbow. The more he kept looking, the more he felt an uncomfortable churn where he would've had a stomach.

"Y'know, I'm starting to believe 13 isn't trying tuh- "

"Heads up, we've got company."

Hawkman, Hawkwoman, and John Stewart descended on the area with the fading light of the sky on their backs. From the air, their scouters beeped and blared repetitively in an attempt to find any nearby biological life. The two singlehandedly razed Gotham's entire commercial district, including a LexCorp building that was considered to most as their new headquarters. The darkened sky and the loss of power to most streetlights in the area plunged the immediate vicinity in near total darkness. The biggest light emitters were the trio's scouters, which inaudibly hummed and glowed to map its surroundings for future reference.

Green Lantern pointed at the two standing in the epicenter as the three flew towards them.

"Are you two the cause of this?" He said in a growling undertone.

"Isn't it obvious enough?" 18's blond hair moved with the gust of wind blowing their way.

She looked to her left and took a pot shot at the only building still standing in the area. The building collapsed on impact, giving the area an apocalyptic feel. Green Lantern's face lit up at the sudden display of strength but stiffened once more.

"Playing smug is gonna get you nowhere. Identify yourselves." He asserted.

"Our names are hardly memorable, being numbers and all,"

John assessed the damage around him. Despite their youthful appearance, they certainly weren't lacking in capability. Even the oddly muddied ground looks like it's about to cave from the madness.

"Look," John sighed. "I don't care what cult or mismatch group you're a part of, but we have bigger issues at stake. The damn _universe_ is in jeopardy right now, so why don't you kids- "

"Piss off," John had barely enough time to perceive the threat before moving his neck to the side. A violet ray of energy nipped his cheek and left a smear-like burn before disappearing into the clouds above.

"The hell! I'm trying to help you!"

"You shouldn't've called her a kid. 18 has quite a bad temper."

While John bantered around, Hawkman was the first to notice the odd lumps deep underneath the rubble. It didn't take long to distinguish them as human beings, those who weren't as fortunate as the people who managed to escape.

"I knew it!" He bellowed, garnering the attention of the other two. Both John and Hawkgirl raised the eyebrows in a distressed fashion at this new discovery. Hawkman needed only a glance before his body tensed up with a fierce fire. He glared at his opponents with his mace hand holding on like there's no tomorrow.

"I see through your games. First Cell, and now this. Another pair of mass murderers I'll be happy to kill."

He pushed himself forward and swung his mace with savage ferocity, searing off a couple of Android 18's hairs as he went. 17 flew some ways back and shot a beam that forced 18 and Hawkman away.

In hindsight, John should've condemned what Carter said, being happy to kill, but in hindsight, the idea didn't even matter anymore. Especially now when 17 fired several blasts at him, each one reflecting from the force of the business end of Shayera's mace. John jetted from behind her and fired his own energy ray out of pure power supply. It exploded upon impact with another volley of blasts, displacing tons of dust and debris in the air. The thickness caused John to close his eyes and cough the excess muck out, leaving him vulnerable to 17's gut punch.

While the new Green Lantern was flung into the air, Hawkman heaved for breath and clasped his ribs. He managed to clip his mace in 18's arm earlier, ripping out part her stripped shirt and fake skin to reveal bits of her mechanical parts on her elbow.

"Guess they really do have a master," He muttered.

While her nimbleness couldn't escape her from that, she managed to dodge every other hit, dealing a few of her own each time. Hawkman wheezed another pained gasp from his battered stomach, loosening his grip on consciousness for a moment before tightening his mace hand for another swing.

This time, the mace busted through her neck, exposing broken wires and processors that sparked in ailing electricity. He coughed out bloody phlegm before hitting her once more in the face, dragging her to the gravel while taking more of her skin with it.

"Machines." He drawled as he wiped his mouth of wet blood and released his mace from her body. "They think they know better than flesh, but they always fail trying to imitate it."

Hawkman flung his mace into the air for a swing, but a hand below him jutted up and took him by the neck, its rough and dirtied skin merely patches covering her inner bits and ends.

At a short distance away, the new Green Lantern fell to the ground with a deafening thud. He cursed himself before shaking his head and standing upright.

Something about the whole ordeal didn't sit right with him. The attacks are purely random, and as much as he didn't have time to think about it, barely hit population clusters. Sitting here and killing innocents isn't strategical in the slightest, but something tells him that they or their master isn't Joker level crazy to do that on a whim. There's something deeper hiding within the shadows. He has to unravel it.

He extended his ring hand into the air and shot out the brightest light he could muster. What came was a light so vivid and luminous that 18 dropped Hawkman's unconscious body just so she could shield her eyes. Hawkgirl was on an equal footing with 17 when the sparkling construct interrupted their battle.

" **Enough!"**

Stewart locked his hands into place as a giant, intricate construct in the shape of a laser cannon surrounded his body. His hands became its gears, which he used to lock onto 18. In the few seconds that she had, she kicked Hawkman to the side and charged her own energy attack.

The two beams fired, the impact producing such a brilliant radiance that it alerted both wanted and unwanted attention.

* * *

Mongul fired a torrent of energy from his chest cannon, disintegrating an entire district of his capital. He smiled, not even noticing Cell reappearing behind him before he was struck hard into the ground below. By the time he got up, the green devil stood right behind him. He swung at him, the fist easily caught by Cell.

"Coming here couldn't have been more of a waste _of_ a waste of my time. That's how disappointed I am with you."

"W-wu-"

Cell blasted him into the nearest dilapidated building in front of them, destroying it and the surrounding area. Mongul managed to get back up, albeit with his chest cannon destroyed by the impact. He was damaged and discolored in several places. Each step, each action was an increasingly momentous task. He took a few steps away from the freshly dug crater and fell flat on the ground.

Despite all the warnings and the premeditated plans, absolutely nothing could've prepared him for this day. He had spent days developing a modified version of his Black Mercy plant that would be able to quickly deploy and latch onto his forthcoming attacker. What ended up happening was that the orchid started on the hand before the whole arm was promptly chopped off. No one told him the damn fiend could regenerate!

He hired thousands of mercenaries from across the quadrant, and thousands more for good measure. Hell, even a portion of the people bore arms when they were told that the threat could mean the end of this world. His overconfidence took a backseat ever since Peraxxus was defeated. He was old and weak, but his death still had a purpose. A stepping stone, one could say, but still impactful to anyone worth something in this universe.

He had visual probes on Almerac when Cell attacked, so his fighting capabilities and his absorption tail were no surprise to him- but _dammit_! Whatever he did to Maxima, his strength increase far exceeded what he expected him to be at. Even so, it was clear that Cell wasn't using even half his energy. The few hits he got in seemingly disappeared cosmetically overtime. It's insanity.

Cell reappeared in front of Mongul in a blur. His tall body casted a shadow that only gave his violet eyes a cruel look, it being the only thing Mongul could see from the ground.

Mongul looked closer into those allegoric eyes. It was well hidden upon their first contact, but now, now, it was plain to see. There was a horrific ecstasy hidden within them, one that revealed more than his unusually blank face.

"Demon…" He spat with what little strength he could muster.

"I know everything about you, Lord Mongul, your desires, fears, weaknesses and strengths. You were the most likely to actually plan ahead, which is why I gave I put you on the second bottom of the list."

"Wait… a list?"

"A list of the people most likely to give me entertainment in this universe."

"Are you kidding me?"

"I think I'm kidding myself." Cell chuckled. "So far the list has been very disappointing."

A darkened object was raised from behind. While poised for bidding, another figure appeared from the background. This one stepped into the limelight. He was caked in blood, even on his grungy beard and unkempt dreads. His sunglasses, however, managed to stay relatively clean, shielding eyes that are as red as Mongul's. His appearance was a surprise for the defeated tyrant.

"That quick?" He said to Cell.

"Yup."

"I'd be pretty darn pissed if I were you."

"Not quite. This whole experience has been very disillusioning."

"Expectations versus reality, am I right?"

"Unfortunately," Cell replied while his tail silently moved forward.

Cell bore his tail into his chest, breaking through armor and skin to get the collective nutrients inside. His jaw opened and his skin contorted into a smile. Never had this experience felt this satisfying since he transformed into his prime state.

Cell had barely started before a bluish-white portal appeared next to Lobo. What began in an annoyed curiosity ended with a look of shock when a distinctive, blue metal boot walked out of it. The man's cinder-like skin, bold figure, and permanently pissed look couldn't have been anyone else but the bane of the universe, the dark overlord himself, Darkseid. What was odd, however, was the ever-present swirl of reddish tint surrounding him. Not only did it make every action of his feel more dubious, it also made his already red eyes even more illuminating. Or perhaps that was because he was charging a beam of energy out of them.

For Lobo, just from the look on his face told the story of a sobering experience seeing Darkseid. He could do nothing but stare at him until he made the first move. For Cell, however, his eyes once again lit up in excitement. The euphoria of the impending battle was so great that Cell released his tail from Mongul midway, who fell with a whimpering thud.

His body had become so frail and rawboned that it's slowly being crushed by his much larger armor. Nevertheless, he was conscious, and seeing Darkseid might as well be akin to an angel flying down from the heavens to rescue him. With what little strength he had, he managed to give out his own half-smile.

In a flash, two blood red streams of energy flowed straight into Cell, far beyond the speed of light. The pain inflicted could only be relatively described by putting two suns going supernova in the middle of a human body. He was instantly vaporized along with Mongul, whom offered no resistance, and then warworld itself.

* * *

Hey.

These past 8 months that I've been away from writing fanfictions was a liberating experience for me. It made me a better author, in the sense that I was making real, original content rather than stories played off others. I read and studied more, which I felt made me a much less egotistical writer and more of a person who inspired others, especially my family, to read and write as I do. Laughably, perhaps that itself was pretentious for me to say, but I think I deserved it. I learned _so_ much, a lot of it from actual writers that saw my potential and criticized my stories. Real criticism too, not the half-assed reviews shunning me without reason.

I'm not blocking all negative criticism though. I failed almost every promise I made in terms of dates. I couldn't help myself at first, but now, I'm honestly trying to change, which is why this chapter came out June the 4th as promised, rather than some 2018 bullshit. I've already faced the consequences of this: I had the biggest audience of any story I made in the beginning, but now it's dramatically shortened.

For those that are still with me, **thank you**. I haven't abandoned you, rather, I'm doing this for you. Your continued patronage is part of the reason I'm still a Fanfiction writer, and I'll continue to be one for the foreseeable future.

As for chapter dates, well, expect to see the next one soon. That's all I can say for now. Peace.


	15. Bravado of the Foolhardy

_Chapter 15_

 _The Bravado of the Foolhardy_

The sad reality of life in universes with metahuman entities is that at any moment, life could cease just by the will of a single person. Even worse, in most cases, the death of whom would be entirely inconsequential.

Mongul's name was synonymous to the devil in innumerous galaxy clusters, but now, the meaning is hollow. He enslaved billions into labor and paramilitary use, but neither of those things mean anything if the people and their master have all disappeared. Warworld, which exceeded Apokolips in its overwhelming degradation of life and the quality of it, no longer exists. Warworld died anticlimactically and without consequence. What remains is detritus and the remnants of structures that would take explorers decades to recreate and understand its context. All this because a certain individual willed it without even their own will.

Two individuals remained at the focal point of the destruction. The first, the perpetrator of the attack, Darkseid, continued to survey the area with scalding red eyes. The second, Lobo, attentively peered at the dark tyrant through a chunk of debris in quick, awkward bursts.

It didn't take long after a closer study that there was something far off with Darkseid's appearance. Lobo had only seen the dark god too few times for it to matter, and yet, it is obvious that the shadowy red flames that constantly stream from his body are not natural. It was not just that, but his machinelike body movements, down to the fact that he obliterated Cell without so much as a typical cartoonish introduction screams a fishy underplot. It perturbed him, but finding out what or why was the least of his worries.

Darkseid's eyes darted in Lobo's direction. The redness, that intense redness that burned hotter than the sun caused him to panic, revealing his location. As soon as his body came into view, Darkseid unnervingly flew his body towards him without moving so much as an inch. The mercenary's mouth went dry and his stomach swarmed with butterflies, and yet, his teeth were locked like grates, and his hands gripped tighter than titanium.

Lobo prepared himself, raised his fists high, and then went into a loud, abrupt laughter. Like medicine, all the troubles he had eased away, the future certain again after the discovery of a revelation he should have already known.

"This is pointless! You might as well go 'ome big guy!"

His face stretched to an unimaginable level ushered by joy, as his pale, bruised cheeks turned a bright red, and his blood tipped dreads rocked back and forth while he cocked his head.

"Surprised? Don't be! I'm the best mercenary there is for 'er reason: I'm immortal ya dumbass!"

Tears streamed across the mercenary's face. His laughs were loud enough to crack the surface of the rocks close to him. The moment he stopped, when his face slacked to normal, he drew back his arms and forced himself towards Darkseid. He gave out the mightiest war cry he could muster before reeling and launching his arm.

"THIS IS FOR CELL!"

The fist was caught by a hand. Darkseid used the other to throw Lobo into the sun closest to the destroyed planet. His cry became what encompassed all that Darkseid could hear, and then, nothing. Inexistence given in seconds, all for reasons that would leave even the most oblivious onlooker unhinged, to which there were many. In the distance, there were several green dots that had conspicuously watched him. For them, a venture from his throne, especially in these times, warranted the utmost of attention despite their clear inability of meaningful action.

 _What an odd creature that was…_

Darkseid turned to them, and then reverted to surveying the done in land. No matter how long he searched, it was no use; his mother box was missing.

Unexpectedly, a yellow light entered his vision and grew by the second. It crackled and snapped in a fit of bursting electricity as it soundly buzzed. The light closed the gap almost immediately, dissipating on itself the moment it would've gone into Darkseid's striking distance. Grayven replaced it in his absence. Like the mercenary, he too was caked in blood over his golden armor as he knelt before his overlord, floating softly in the depths of space.

"Father, my lord. As requested, I have procured the zeta-beam." Grayven handed the mechanical stick adorned with an array of advanced odds and ends. Darkseid held it, but gave it no heed in surveillance, at least, until he is told to.

 _The mother box is unnecessary now. Discontinue your search._

"Father, forgive my prolonged absence, but there were a series of rather unexpected obstacles in completing my mission. Although Rann's hero Adam Strange was already eliminated by Cell on Earth, the planet became a haven for those who wanted to flee from Cell's direction. Finding the man who would have given this to me wasn't as simple as killing the lot of them."

Grayven took a glance up at Darkseid, whom, for the first time in a long time, watched him with attentiveness. Not to hear brief mission details, not to loathe at what it cost Darkseid for him to succeed, but to hear what he truly wanted to say. Or maybe it just a coincidence that he was looking his way for this long.

"If you're listening, I wanted you to know something father…" His throat tensed and his body shook. "Kalibak… Orion… _all_ of us, all of my brothers had to go through toomuch to get this for you. That is the cost. I hope this is what you wanted."

 _He serves no purpose now. Eliminate him._

Grayven gazed up again at his father, where Darkseid can see the tears dripping down his cheeks.

It's strange; Grayven always looked up to him in terror. Unlike his brothers, he was the one who always complied, who always followed orders lest he wanted to provoke the ire of his father. Kalibak and Orion paid with their lives for even minor disobedience, and it only sunk Grayven farther down this path. While the compliance was righteously called for, it made him unfit to lead should a retirement be called for in the future. It has not stopped him from feeling just a little proud, though.

Had things gone differently, perhaps he could've stuck Grayven around for longer, send him on more runs detrimental to his new goal. Nevertheless, he had an order, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to continue his acquiescence.

Without any more afterthought, Darkseid fixated and corroded Grayven into nothing with his omega beams. No time to scream, no time to react, he was gone faster than he arrived.

 _Good, that shows that you dedicated. Now go. There is still much left to do if you want to receive your prize._

The device was simplistic enough. After a quick consorting, the contraption flashed in a tinge of yellow. It started to dematerialize him, first through the hand he held the device in, and then through the rest of his body. In moments, he became a pure ball of yellow, sparkling energy. It had a mind of its own. It took his scattered cells far into deep space, soaring through the stars to reach Earth.

* * *

Western Gotham served mostly as the sleeping quarters for most of the city's tourists. Light, single story commercial shops dotted the far larger, far taller high-rise hotels and accompanying restaurants, like the one Batman and Luthor dined in earlier. Everything was designed to make as much bucks as possible, creating the consequence of having so many tightly spaced buildings that even with most of the police presence of Gotham monitoring the area, deaths, especially from debris off of degraded structures, were unavoidable. They were fortunate enough to have Wonder Girl and Aquaman to stall just long enough for them to move everyone into safety previously.

Now, Wonder Girl, surprisingly, found she was still able to hear herself breathe amidst the thundering reverberations of crumbling foundations around her. Android 13's last attack tore open West Gotham's most prominent building, the clocktower, along with an assortment of businesses around it, disintegrating it all into a pit of red energy in a unique, spherical attack. Originally, he aimed at her comrade, Aquaman. She had to deflect it in the building's direction so that it wouldn't end up killing him, who was badly injured after dicing Android 15's mechanical cranium with his trident.

"Don't get cocky ya two," 13 said as he returned to the ground, the flickering illuminations from the damaged city lights boldening his already threatening presence. "15 were the weakest of er lil' band here. I'd done 'em in too if he ain't stop bad-mouthin', makin' us look bad n' all."

The skin on the left side of 13's face was torn off, not from the battle, but from the explosion that accidentally activated them. What remained was the mechanical parts that surfaced below it, along with a red, luminescing circle in the shape of his missing eye. He found himself touching the area from time to time, missing what would've made him the sharpest looking guy in town, in his perspective.

Wonder Girl squeezed her left arm, where blood continued to spasm ever since she fell on a sharp piece of debris. She's fought against constant blood loss before, but not when her opponent is this much more powerful than her. Each punch, each kick, even her lasso of lightning did nothing to impede or damage the androids, at least, not cosmetically. In fact, they were still fighting at the same pace since the beginning of their battle.

Wonder Girl turned to Aquaman, who gave her the thumbs up.

"Question, redneck," She began, still clutching her arm.

"What did you say?"

"Can you even pronounce your g's?!"

"Mockin' my accent huh?" 13 clenched his arm while energy radiated around it "Ya lil' bra- "

Aquaman's trident thrust through 13's stomach and electrified him with voltages that make lightning strikes look like battery charges. The strike stiffened the android's body and brought his hair upright for a moment.

"Good distraction! Now, your lasso!" Aquaman cried out. However, the demigod was no longer by his side. Instead, she was a distance away fighting 14, who had emerged from the crater she put him in earlier.

"Dear Neptune..."

Using what's left of his strength, he stood upright and charged as fast as he could, where he would pluck out the trident and then use it to cleave 13's head off, the only surefire way to defeat them. He was a little worried when first trying it with 15, where he had imagined his brain-like cranium to still have some human in there, so he simply asked him if that were true before grinding him into a jumble of parts earlier.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized just how strange it was when he destroyed the android. While the pale and muscular one, 14, observed in shock, 13 was entirely apathetic, watching the metal chunks fly as if without a care in the world. It seemed out of character for a bot with such personality, even more so than the bigger one, 14, no matter how resentfully annoying it is. There must be more to it than what he could come up with in a few nanoseconds.

Delving into his thoughts caused him to move a tick too slow. At the time where he should've already recovered the trident of Zeus, his own head was nearly picked off after 13 instead got a hold of it. Aquaman leaped into the air and kicked the android a distance away. The king of the seas soared from one rooftop to the next to catch up. His trident well in hand, he threw it from atop a building the moment the leading android ceased to move. What he didn't expect was for the android to not only catch it midair but to yet again heave it at him. It was after barely dodging it, after narrowly losing his life for the second time that he realized this tactic of his might not be the best of plans. But by the time he realized this, 13 had already closed the distance between them.

Aquaman crashed hard into the ground, forming his own crater. After stumbling to get up, He moaned and shuffled about, drudging up foot after foot to reach the edge. Half way, 13 flew in and stopped him in his tracks.

"Don't feel nice being put intuh' a hole, does it? It's payback for 14." 13 stated.

The android came closer to look at the lord of the seas meticulously. Aquaman's face was bruised beyond recognition, with disfiguring sores that swelled up his eyes, and missing patches of hair that were supposed to be on his head.

"Should feel lucky that I ain't killing that pretty face."

The android feigned a half-hearted gasp while examining the injuries before forcing an energy sphere in his stomach. Aquaman tumbled rapidly, picking up muck and debris as he went falling to the bottom. The metric tons of dirt that toppled over him submerged him from head to toe like an unmarked grave.

13 sneered with a crooked tooth grin at a job well done, motioning towards 14 and Wonder Girl as they continued to battle. Her pacing was much quicker than his. She would attack him from the front, hitting him some ways in his stomach before he could even react. But once he did, she was already behind him, whipping out her lasso to yank him back and forth onto the ground. However, try as she might, none of her tactics were ever of any real consequence, and it was only a matter of time before her speed waned down out of exhaustion. 14 knew it, even Wonder Girl did, which is why her face flickered in bewilderment and fear after seeing what happened to Aquaman. Floating backward, she motioned for her scouter.

"Watchtower, it's Wondergirl. Aquaman's down and I'm getting cornered!"

Her blue scouter buzzed alongside a slew of alien text, sending her message to everyone available to hear it, whoever that may be.

13 and 14 edged closer. The unsettling, eerie movement of their unhurried approach had her whizzing back and forth for an answer, desperately looking for a sign, a hint, a weapon- something that could do more damage than giving them puncture wounds from a golden stick.

"And I'm wondering," She began to her scouter, looking at the utter devastation their battle brought to the city. "I'm wondering, is all this really worth saving Lex Luthor? A _villain_? As much as I don't want to say it, these guys, we're outclassed without Superman."

Static followed. An audio channel opened to reply, one where she could hear maces hitting metal, and light fighting darkness.

" _That's where you're wrong, Wonder Girl."_

There was a barely audible voice in the far distance, one that boomed in a godly radiance. A green, blinding light appeared after, taking up her entire vision for a time. She used her hands to cover her eyes to no avail. It could've been no one else but John Stewart, and that would mean he's using up a lot of his power for something drastic. If that's the case, they're not doing so good against them either.

Once the light faded to a partial obscurity, 13 and 14 stopped covering their eyes and moved towards Wonder Girl.

"Distancening away from what just happened," 13 said while still rubbing his eyes. "Let me explain. We ain't even here for ya missy or ya city, so just surrender, maybe give us Luthor's coordinates y'know, somethin' nice, and we'll be on er' merry way."

She stared back into the distance. The light from John's ring dimmed to as small as a glint in the sky. A large, green energy wave appeared after, colliding with another energy wave that also took up the entire scenery. And despite it all, they're rather even, almost favoring the lantern.

She shook her head about as if to get something stuck out of her ear. There is more to John' plan than just a last-ditch effort. It showed resilience, strength, not backing down from a losing battle. Besides, if he could give his all, why can't she? After all, he's a weakling.

She placed herself into a fighting stance. Her eyes narrowed, focusing on her dual attackers in a furious gaze.

"I don't care what you guys are, or who made you, or what purpose you have, but _no_ one gets to rile me up and live to tell the story!"

Wonder Girl flew straight into 13 and hurled a fist in his stomach, sending massive shockwaves that shattered glass and stirred entire foundations across western Gotham. She smirked. Nothing was more enjoyable than seeing the whimpering face of a man whose accent caused more trouble than it was worth programming. She began to hit him an innumerous amount of times, each one inhumanly contorting his face while picking up dust from the ground far below. Satisfied, she kicked him twice, sending him twirling in the air.

Still in a haze of excitement and aggression, she flew straight to him in haste, disrupting the clouds around her.

"I am a fucking _demigod!_ The daughter of Zeus! You're just a bucket of bolts!"

Midflight, a wretched pain took hold of her back, the force of which sent her spiraling back to the ground. She landed a short trek away from Aquaman, whom she could vaguely see in her blurred vision as she writhed in agony. The laceration on her left arm from earlier hemorrhaged, causing her five senses to flow out as freely as the blood.

With her good eye, Wonder Girl saw both 13 and 14 surround her, the former showing no damage from her recent attack except for a bit of extra dust he had yet to brush off. 13 pointed at her, saying a few inaudible words and then laughed. She immediately opened her mouth in an enraged growl, spewing an incoherent string of words that only made his laughter grow.

Once his laughter ended, the pair rose to the sky. She could see the silhouettes of the other androids following suit, all of them undoubtedly searching for their true objective together. She tried getting up and stopping them, but a unique, swirling sphere of red energy removed the daughter of Zeus from battle, a technique that 13 concocted with a flare to its name, the _S.S. Deadly Bomber_.

* * *

It had been a while since Trunks sparred with Wonder Woman.

The sky was blood red. Sword clanged against sword in the boiling heat. The two dashed from left and right in blurs, clashing thousands of times midair and then dashing to the next place before the other could get a potential hit in. Trunks benefitted from Bulma's modified Saiyan armor, to which he wore proudly, bearing many slash marks and other wounds that protected him from such damaging blows. Diana wears this too, albeit replacing the gloves and boots with her enchanted bracelets along with her tiara and shield. The shield would quickly prove to be an annoyance, as Trunks found almost impossible to get through. He clashed against it multiple times before she bashed it on his face, as he soared away to dodge any after-attack.

This time, Wonder Woman eagerly pursued him, reading her blade for the next attack. The time traveler teleported behind her, knocking her away with a kick. She composed herself to attack again, grasping her shield hand tight, but this time, she noticed her shield missing. She looked up to see Trunks floppily holding it with a grin that took up most his face.

"No more shields," Trunks said, throwing the godly empowered defense on the floor.

"Fine by me."

Diana charged headfirst towards Trunks with her weapon raised. In one heavy swing, both swords clashed together, creating a massive shockwave as they clashed repeatedly.

He had to hand it to her though, she had to have been one of the most skilled fighters he had met. After scarcely parrying blow after blow as she ferociously stroke, the thought went by that even Gohan might have trouble fighting her. Trunks had trained hard with Superman for months (about a few hours) to close the gap and to marginally widen it in his favor between the two, but even so, she _still_ has the upper hand.

She heaved and swung yet again, this time with enough force to blow back Trunks's sword, leaving him defenseless. She swung at him continuously, almost clipping a lock of his long, purple hair that dangled around his neck.

Before she could deliver the final blow, he transformed into a Super Saiyan, holding the blade mid-swing.

"Finally," She smiled, pulling back her weapon's business end. "I was waiting for you to transform to your golden form. Now we can both fight at full power."

"You were holding back?" Trunks said while walking to retrieve his own sword.

"Of course!" She happily bellowed. "You should always first conserve your power to gauge how strong your opponent is, but it seems you've learned that lesson at least."

"In the past, I used to rush to try and take my opponent out as fast as possible." Trunks began, reading himself with his sword.

"I don't do that anymore, and that's thanks to you guys. You, Superman, Batman, you guys have taught me a lot."

"Likewise, Saiyan, likewise."

Trunks's golden aura grew immensely before he charged straight at the Amazon, both swords clanking against each other with enough force to blow up a country side. Each blow produced a trail of spastic, yellow lightning that flailed around them as they strike at each other.

This time, Trunks had the upper hand in their duel, but Wonder Woman was maddeningly able to keep up, countering and even dishing out attacks Trunks was not able to parry against. The time traveler dashed back to charge up even more, his aura becoming unimaginably larger before sinking into him in a display that lit up the entire area.

And all Wonder Woman could do was smile.

Trunks jumped into the air, but instead of attacking head-on, he rapidly moved his arms before locking his hands in place, forming a diamond in the middle.

"Take this!"

Wonder Woman grunted. The last time she had seen this technique, Trunks meant to attack Cell with it. It hit Superman instead, which nearly incapacitated him. There was not a chance in hell that she would let herself connect with that.

Diana leaped into the air, watching below to see a massive explosion erupt under her feet. She blew a sigh of relief. She did not expect, however, that once she looked back up, she would be seeing Trunks charging at her with his sword in the air.

"Lightning Sword Flash!"

Trunks swiped down, as a large wave of energy took Wonder Woman with it, sending her spiraling to the floor in a concentrated explosion. As soon as she connected with the ground, the Saiyan hybrid flew towards her location. He empowered his sword with his ki, giving it a radiating, golden look, along with its own aura.

In one swipe, the dust dissipated, but the princess herself was not there. He turned back ever-so-slightly before receiving a blow to the back.

Strangely enough, he found himself reeling from such an ordinary attack. He looked back to see Wonder Woman no longer with her sword but with her hands, as she placed her foot back onto the floor and formed her fighting stance. Her feet danced from left to right in a rhythmic pattern. She motioned for Trunks to make the first move, which, with his strengthened sword, he happily obliged.

Trunks slashed with his sword, and then over and over again. No matter how many times he tried, or how much faster he attacked, the princess of Themyscira was always one step ahead of him, dodging each swipe like it was nothing.

In one attack, Trunks extended himself too far, leaving his chest susceptible to Wonder Woman's gut punch and forcing him a distance away. Once Trunks hurriedly returned, she delivered even more hits, each one more damaging than the last. Wonder Woman kicked high for a finishing blow, but Trunks's ki charged sword blocks it, igniting sparks that flied around the two. He followed up with a series of strikes, each one eaten up by Diana's bracelets of submission. Before long, the swipes slackened, and it became the time traveler's body that was more damaged by the attack.

Veins pulsated across the young boy's body, his muscles swelled far beyond what Wonder Woman would have considered his limit. His outbreak became more pitiful than anything, but his eyes, his eyes tell the whole story. That boy had more determination in him than anyone she has ever met, a reminder of how she was when she first entered the world of man so many years ago.

She was one of the few people who did not have animosity for him upon first encountering him and witnessing some of the irrational actions he would take later on. What many people, even Batman would like to forget, is that he is still a boy, a traumatized boy in fact. He lived his whole life fighting to save the very world they are in right now. Back then, as the only fighter left, he could ill afford to lose, and as such, he trained himself to take any opportunity he could get, no matter how hazardous it was. That was why she wasn't angry at him when he nearly killed Superman, he was only trying to help.

And helped he had. Had it not been for his resolve, the whole league might have just surrendered when Cell transformed into his final form. He had the determination of a hero, the ferocity of an Amazon, and the potential of a Saiyan, and that is why his strength is now a level above her, despite what he might be thinking as he sluggishly thrashes around with his sword. He just doesn't know how to fight longer battles like these. And now, it was up to her to make sure he could use his potential to better use.

She chuckled while she dodged his attacks, noticing the constant strain in his eyes ever since he put on his golden form. Maybe he could even surpass Superman once she's done with him.

"Let us stop here for now." Wonder Woman ordered, catching his blade and then tossing the whole sword aside.

"You need to work on your stamina in this transformation. You're overexerting yourself, and that will prove fatal against a smarter opponent who would take advantage of that, like Cell." She elucidated as he reverted to his normal state.

"I know, I'm planning on fixing that with Superman." Trunks replied while the two both went to retrieve their swords.

Both warriors walked up to one another and bowed at their feet, a custom that, while it took some time getting used to for the Amazonian, she started to find herself doing it instinctively.

"Wonder Woman?" He said while they began the long journey back to the main room.

"You don't have to always call me by my title," She replied. "Call me Diana, you know that."

"Sorry, I'm just used to- well, you know…" Trunks said, his face becoming redder than the sky.

There was something else hidden in Trunks's eyes that she did not quite catch earlier. Whatever it is, it made her feel uneasy.

"As you were saying?"

"Yeah, uh, we need every advantage we could get in defeating Cell, right?"

"Unquestionably. He's our greatest opponent."

"Then could you do me a small favor before we leave?"

* * *

Whew!

OK, so we have Darkseid coming to Earth and killing everything in sight (because he's being told to...?), the Androids ravaging Gotham with little to oppose them, and like half the League + Trunks training in the room of spirit and time to fight a threat that's already... dead? Could it be? The main villain _and_ his insane comrade Lobo defeated? What does this mean for the Trunks, and for everyone for that matter?

Well, to better understand this, look at the very beginning of this chapter. Some of those words kinda fit Cell now, doesn't it? **Well... not for long.**

Originally, this chapter length would have been about 9000 (it's over 9000!) words. That was way too much content to put on just a single chapter, so I decided to cut it into two. As thus, I've already made the next chapter, I just need to refine it so that it is its own thing rather than it just feeling like the next scene off this one. **That means the next chapter is coming faster than any chapter I have published to date** , so stay tuned for that.

If you guys haven't noticed already, I just made a few updates to the story info/content. I changed the profile image and changed a few titles to accurate fit the story. Let me know if you guys think differently.

One more thing I'd like to add. If you guys could do me a favor and blast on the reviews some criticism, any criticism really (my writing style, grammar mistakes, plot issues, etc), I would really appreciate it. I really want to understand just how well I have improved from when I first made this story two years ago, and how I could improve even more. Thanks!


	16. Days of Old

Chapter 16

 _Days of Old_

No one was too fast for the Flash. No matter how far the distance, or how short on time, he always made it. There was never a day when the Justice League couldn't count on him at a moment's notice; and sometimes, he manages to make it there before they even think of a cry for help.

However, there are some things even he cannot outrun, at least, he knows that now after so many tries.

Ever since Cell left to fight against a universe ripe with superpowered aliens, that gut wrenched feeling of regret finally got to him. That emotionally based, Superman influenced words he used to spout, the arguments and fights he willingly got himself into, the being he unintentionally created… it's not him. Those feelings… the things he thought back then… it isn't the Flash the people have known. He isn't the Barry that he used to know, as his wife, Iris, told him so often.

He remembered the blind rage he felt when he learned that Cyborg was among Cell's first victims. That was what set him over the edge, more so than the fact that it was his city, Central City, that was the first on Cell's immaculate meal plan. He became more gruesome, more brash, more irrational, more ready to do the same things Zoom did. That is what Zoom told him after all, while they were exchanging blows across the ruined Metropolis city.

" _It seems that nowadays we're a lot less different than what you're comfortable with, Flash."_

" _And how's that?"_

" _Look at whose side you're even on, you inconsequential fool. You have allied yourself with someone who's willing to kill whoever he deemed should be so. To be an ally with someone like that means that you too are willing to commit the same acts, and they are not a lot dissimilar from what I do."_

" _No… no! You're wrong, dead wrong. We are nothing alike. I'm doing this to save lives! People! Once I'm done mopping the floor with you, we're gonna save the world."_

" _How overly generic of you Flash, and here I thought you set the standard. I know my place. I do what I do for the money, for the fun of seeing you mesmerized in fear when I kill your loved ones, all sorts of things. You, on the other hand, have no wants or desires of your own. I am a scientist first, and I've witnessed your actions throughout this year. Your emotions, your wants and desires, even your actions directly correlate to Superman's own. Now, what happens if all that pent-up rage he has for Cell ends up somewhere else once he's dead? What if it's against something you protect? Do you follow like a lapdog?"_

" _But- "_

" _You know I'm right- and look, I sucker punched you while you were thinking too hard. Fight back like the good old days, you myopic slug."_

Barry Allen knows the truth now, but he will never get the chance to tell that to him. He remembered the moment Cell struck down Zoom more vividly than anything in his life, even his mother's death. It was near instant. All the Flash could do was turn and see the lifeless body of his enemy stop his run midway and tumble to the ground.

And while he hated him with all his heart, it did not stop him from grieving every time he thought of it. In fact, it took him quite a while before he could put on his red suit once again.

If only he knew then, things could have been different. Not just the Earth, but the universe itself might not be in such peril. Only time will tell if he could rectify his mistake, and that is one of the many things in limited supply these days.

That was all Barry could think as he circled the globe oodles of times. Each step collected more bio-electricity that danced about his feet and lightened the atmosphere. Once he felt he gathered enough, he ran straight back to Gotham. Android 19 had yet to have even reacted to the Flash's disappearance before he suddenly reappeared in front of him, as he received a massive fist that forced him airborne into the breeze.

The Flash, preoccupied with the satisfaction of his most recent blow, almost became his own undoing when he finally realized Android 16 was mere inches behind him, as he drove in with a bear hug dive. He practically flowed through the Earth once more in panic, only to get right behind the android before he even placed his feet on the ground. The Flash launched a kick at him from behind, but 16 suddenly turned around and caught it midair.

"What the- "

The Flash flew into the air before he smashed into the ground, his burgeoning momentum sent to a grinding halt.

"I was studying your movements, red one," 16 paused to catch Android 19 before he too met with the land. "It is somewhat foreseeable. I believe I can stop you even when you are at your fastest."

The speedster dragged himself back up and considered his surroundings. Both androids are back in the fight. Worse, the fat pale one he sent an amplified blow to looks as if he had no harm from it. Double worse, his partner, Booster Gold, is definitely out for the count next to him. The androids took care of him within the first few minutes of the fight, but not before he soiled his pants and cursed the authority that forced him to respond to this crisis.

Barry inhaled deeply. In any case, he will have to manage this on his own. This is how he will make it up to everyone who looked up to him. This is how he will atone for his sins.

The Flash studied his opponents. The one referred to as 19 was pale, short, and plump, wore tan baggy pants, a blue sash around his waist, a vest tied by blue string, and black, puffy shoulder pads. The other, 16, stood next to his comrade like a dinosaur would to an ant. He was equipped with a green, massive, almost insectoid like chest piece with an encrusted Blue Ribbon insignia, black under-armor, and a ginger haired mohawk. Both clearly stood out as non-human with their lifeless, light blue eyes, as all these androids did, but merely one of them posed much of a threat.

The Flash took on a running stance in front of the two. The wind howled at his back and the night sky beamed with a bright, ominous scent as he stood still.

"So, at my fastest you say?"

Yellow lightning blasted around his entire body, as he tapped more and more into the speed force at an intensity that even the great speedster like himself would be terrified to use. However, it was either this or die, as these new villains are fond of doing.

"Let's see if you can handle it!"

The mechanical plates, rotating chips, beeps, and sounds did not even begin to fire at what would far later register as a visual change to his eye receptors, the biggest alteration being that the man in front of him had once again vanished.

In the vision of a speedster, everything darkened and blurred in except for individuals. The android stayed perfectly in place while the Flash circled the planet at first in hundreds, and then thousands of times over, enough to send him far into the future if he so chose. He instead used up all that energy to come back and tear a hole right through the plump android before he himself had even appeared in the android's eyes.

In the view of Android 19, the Flash would still be charging his speed, only for a hole to appear where his stomach should be.

Once done, the Flash threw Android 19 aside in a trillionth of a second. When Barry turned to the other android, his eyes snapped upwards. Android 16 was already behind him! When the speedster ducked under him and went in for an uppercut, big red android suddenly started to move. The android dodged the hit and he went for another punch. The Flash did the same, and all the energy he had stored inside of him exploded right then and there.

As the two fists collided, it made an enormous explosion that effortlessly ripped apart anything that wasn't a superpowered being. At the end of it, while a dense fog of smoke hid everything inside it, the Flash was flung out, as he jettisoned to the ground a distance away.

"As shown, not only was your durability weaker, but I was able to accurately predict your movements and used them against you. You have failed red one."

The debris had cleared into the black sky. Smoke emanated off 16's fist. He was still in the same position as he was at the exact moment the Flash had tapped into the speed force.

"However," He began while grinning and bringing back his fist. "You were still a good opponent."

"And a dead one too." 19 said while putting the finishing touches to his energy ball.

Right at the moment Android 19 launched it at the speedster, 16 deflected the energy sphere away.

"That was entirely unnecessary 19."

The round android presented the gaping hole in his stomach to 16. "Do you not see what he did to me? He must be eliminated and his energy absorbed!"

"No. We were supposed to create a diversion. It is not required of us to destroy whatever life that does not threaten our own, and yet, while we were here, you have killed more civilians than I could enumerate. To what end?"

"You are mistaken 16. Killing is how you create an effective diversion. I was only following orders to the best of my ability," Android 19 turned back to the Flash's unconscious body a distance away and charged another energy ball. "Precisely as you should be- "

This time, Android 16 caught and almost broke 19's arm off. He continued to squeeze it to pieces.

"How can I even be brethren to such an abomination like you, 19. What ever happened to protecting the innocent? What happened to protecting nature? These are your primary directives, is it not?"

Android 19 managed to loosen himself off 16's grasp, a move in which irreversibly damaged his hand.

"Are you defunct?" The two said in unison.

Before the two could come to blows, 16's eyes turned a pitch red. He automatically detected energy signatures that his databank recognized. After zooming into the horizon at their approximate location, he could see that it was indeed 13, 14, 17, and 18 in the distance.

"We can finish this later." Android 16 spoke as he released the other's arm. "Our job is done here. We need to go."

* * *

In a swift motion, Trunks extended his hand to the endless white sky and gathered an ample amount of energy. With a grunt, energy burst from his hand and darkened the sky. It traversed far into the distance, an event that encompassed all of Supergirl's vision. It passed Superman sparring with Wonder Woman, passed Superboy reclining on a chair outside the main time house, and went even further beyond. Once it reached its peak and dissipated into nothing, Trunks huffed from the first strenuous task of the day. The darkness faded to an opaque white while he turned to his new student.

"I think you can manage at least that much."

"Are you serious?" Her eyes widened.

"Definitely." As Trunks sat down on the floor crisscrossed, Supergirl did as well. "If you want me to help you learn this, we can't start light, not with what's at stake."

"I see."

Trunks closed his eyes and respired deeply, each breath more like a battle rather than an automatic motion. In his time of silence, he reminisced on the anxiety he felt when the rain pierced the darkness devoured the sky that day. Gohan was invincible, he was the savior of humanity. He wasn't supposed to…

He shuddered somewhat, but continued.

Things didn't change for Trunks when he deactivated the twin androids years later. He felt worse about himself. He often pondered afterward on what his father would think, eliminating the threat instead of fighting it honorably. Would he have disowned him? He began to train every single day after that, using the same gravity chamber his father used as if the androids were going to arrive the next day. He wanted to become as strong as he could be so that if another threat arrives, he could finally redeem himself.

He has not gotten to that point yet. He's lost most of his battles in his stay here, but at least he knows his enemy he needs to strive to defeat. As they say, Freiza wasn't defeated in a day.

"I've never seen you this… calm before," Supergirl started while she watched her new teacher meditate. "Who taught you this?"

"A mentor of mine from a long time ago. On my Earth, you had to meditate so that you don't go crazy with all the stuff that goes on."

"Is it still that bad, your Earth?"

"Not even close. I wouldn't have left if it was."

Trunks took one last heave before he opened his eyes. To Kara Zor-El, Trunks always looked so serious, no matter the occasion. And yet, right now, he looked as if he does not have a care in the world. He was at peace; a one of envy, at that.

"Now you try."

Reluctantly, she closed her eyes. A whole rush of emotions sent her breath to a shudder. She recalled the inner rage and disgust she felt when she first encountered Cell in Metropolis. He killed Metallo and Parasite in cold blood. He didn't even give them a chance, he just absorbed them outright. What kind of monster does such a thing?

Supergirl's breath became heavier with each inhale. Maybe it's the air getting dense again, or maybe it's from when she remembered the frustration she felt when Trunks turned on them. Cell was about to become complete, and Trunks tried to defeat her, Wonder Girl, and Superboy so that they could not join Superman in his battle against Batman's allies in Metropolis. It was a one-sided fight. With his super ability, he managed to reach avenues that would have took her and her friends years to overcome. The rage she felt by just watching Superboy and Wonder Girl receiving such a brutal pummeling by Trunks easily rose to the surface of her breath.

And then, it stopped. She took another breath, a long one with a bit of a tremble, one that had wiped away the darkness of old and brought forth the light of the now. Her past is unchangeable, but, much like the original reason Trunks came here, she could still change the forthcoming- her future.

She breathed one last lungful before her nerves finally calmed, her inner emotions reconciled.

"Do you feel calm?"

"Actually, yeah." Supergirl rose to her feet, feeling the atmosphere around her. "It's the first time in a long time where I don't feel so much… things in my head. Bad things. It feels nice."

Trunks also gathered to his feet, as he left the turmoil of the past behind.

"Then the next part comes easier."

While Supergirl observed, the time traveler placed his cupped hands to his chest, as if he was balancing something.

"Do you know what ki is?"

"I've got a general idea. It's in the body, right?"

"Something like that. Come closer and watch."

Supergirl leaned in as the time traveler focused on his hands. Suddenly, a small, almost unnoticeable dot of energy formed, surrounded by transparent rings. It was like the shadow of a candle in the night.

"Every person, every plant and animal, and every living object has ki stored up inside it, no matter how small. The more powerful you get, the more ki is stored inside your body. Usually, it's proportional to the person and their species. Some people and species are born with a disproportionally high amount, and others are born with disproportionally high potential to increase that amount."

"And what about me? How much potential do I have?"

"I could tell you had a lot from the moment I met you," Trunks smiled broadly. "As for how much ki you have right now, well, we're about to find out, aren't we?"

"Right,"

Supergirl cupped her hands in the same fashion Trunks did. With her mind already void of other thoughts, she concentrated solely on her hands.

"Remember," Trunks raised his finger. "Focus on what you to bring out. It will come soon enough."

Her hands twitched as she felt something within her force outwards. The spark, the twinge of yellow electricity came first, followed by a sphere of glowing energy that materialized on her hands.

"That's it!" Trunks said with a beaming smile. "You did it!"

Supergirl beamed with excitement, but rapidly went into confusion once the ball in her hand proliferated in size. It became so much so that, when Supergirl ever-so-slightly moved in Trunks's direction to get his help, the energy erupted in a torrent of intense power. Trunks himself narrowly dodged the blast before it blew into the depths of the time chamber.

The energy continued to stream uncontrollably from her hands, right up to the moment when Trunks had to transform into a Super Saiyan and knock her out.

"I guess we'll have to work on that."

* * *

It was not abnormal for the watchtower to have its silent hours, especially on hectic days like these, but that does not make it feel any less spine-chilling where you are the station's only occupant. Bulma felt this ever since Trunks left, and it only amplified when everyone else left absent to keep the androids occupied. Luckily, she was not alone today.

A hodge-podge of Dr. Nero's work dangled around her computer, stained by coffee and a collection of things not entirely spilt by herself. Her computer displayed one of Dr. Nero's many prototype android blueprints in an eye-damaging hue. She had most of Dr. Nero's blueprints digitized so that she could make any necessary edits without having the original paper ruined any further.

She worked amongst Batman and Martian Manhunter, who were at the other corner as they examined what became of Gotham. All around the outer shell of the watchtower itself lie a dozen digital scopes positioned with enough zoom and quality to even count blades of grass if the positioning of the watchtower is correct. The feed the scopes produced was watchable from several monitoring stations within the watchtower, which included the same office Bulma worked in since the beginning of her stay there. With it, she watched all of Trunks's fights on Earth.

From the top view of the cameras, no humans remained in Gotham, save for the few intrepid looters willing to steal by any means necessary. They were the least of Gotham's worries. Explosions, eruptions, and all sorts of destructive means spewed across the city. It destroyed everything in its wake, and that included even the most valuable and important of buildings, which by the grace of the plethora of gods excluded WanyeCorp headquarters. Batman still winced every time whenever the idiots down below manage to accidentally burn an edifice down.

What was even worse was that it was clear they were losing. At every battleground, whether it was east, west, or central, the androids overpower them in every way. While Hawkgirl managed to find even footing with this so called number 17, both Green Lantern and Hawkman were down on both stamina and ground. Western Gotham was nearly totaled after Wonder Girl carelessly deflected 13's blasts away from Aquaman. The young girl is too naive to understand the importance of property value. After all, who does she think is going to rebuild this city?

The east was only a tad bit better, as Booster Gold and the Flash could minimalize collateral damage far better where they lack in strength.

"Batman," Bulma said as she took his attention off the field. "Come look at this."

Bruce took one last assessment of the damage before making his way over to Bulma. In her hand was one of the many papers they managed to recover before Dr. Nero's laboratory self-destructed. While some of them had such complex inscriptions that left even Batman bewildered, the one Bulma had in her hand was writing, blobs of paragraphs rather than kebabs of numbers in an equation.

"Remember when we talked to Dr. Nero before he was destroyed?" She asked.

"Definitely. I think about what he was going to say every day."

"Me too. He could've just wrote what he was going to say and make life easier, but that would make him the first villain to ever do that." The two chuckled even after the joke stopped being humorous.

"I did manage though to find a journal of his that might lead to an answer. Have a look."

Batman peered across Bulma's shoulder to the slightly crumpled paper in her hand. It read:

 _Journal Entry #53_

 _UPDATE: Android construction is_ _finalized_ _, finally. A computational behavior codex is to be added immediately. Where Luthor wanted raw obedience, I am giving them each a personality matrix, one that will grow uniquely into each individual. In that way, they will learn how to adapt and creatively combat any situation rather than to follow a meat bag prone to mistakes like myself._

 _Meat bag, huh. I might as well ditch it. I would die trying to hunt anything that isn't a penguin over here, and I am almost certain my body deterioration and rapid hair loss aren't from a fever. Ah, Makai, you old man, one thing at a time._

 _The elimination of Superman and the retrieval of Luthor for further meticulous mutilation would be too easy. It would be a cinch- all androids combined should be more than enough for the arrogant and bald, again for that backstabbing, red caped imbecile, and finally that obviously corruptible league of his._

 _But however much I loathe those two, I am not one for revenge. I have bolder goals with my creations. They must pass harder trials than just to satisfy my pettiness._

 _Furthermore, if anything, at least they will be an improvement over my last project with Luthor, Superboy. I wonder how long it would take before Luthor loses that one. Shorter than the rest I hope, the filthy impudent._

 _Now that the important things are out of the way, allow me to rant on something I have discovered earlier. There is a camphor wood block in the basement, a few meters away from my table. Metals make up the entire facility. There are not any camphor trees in well over a thousand miles (I've checked, I scanned), and yet, here it is, this damn piece of light brown camphor wood. It's sitting on the corner, unendingly taunting me with its random materialization, practically begging me to unearth its strange secrets._

 _I am frustrated, bewildered, infuriated. Why is this here? What force brought this to me? There is decidedly nothing, at least, nothing that made any sense until an idea popped in my head while I was sketching blueprints last night._

 _It all makes sense now. I'm here, this block is here, all because of the distortion of the space-time continuum. Throw a piece of wood into a black hole (If you're already not immediately absorbed into it) and it would disappear almost instantaneously, but the matter will go somewhere. Throw a person into a black hole in_ _time_ _and, well, you get me. This timeline is corrupted, somehow, and has become a spot for specific time travelers like myself to accidentally fall into._

 _As an aside, theoretically, it may be possible to return to only my original timeline, but it is impossible to know for sure since I destroyed my time machine once Luthor discovered it ages ago. If I had only asked my dear friend Dr. Briefs how to make it, perhaps I wouldn't be stuck in this timeline, and I would instead be using my android armada against Goku in my intended visit. Oh, how things have changed._

 _My wormhole idea comes with problems that even I do not have the answer to. For instance, what caused this black hole? Me? No, no, of course not. It must either be from the universe naturally or one of these gods or monitors I hear about so often._

 _One thing is for certain though, the more I think about it, the more 'unnatural' this whole situation is. This might sound insane, but were things out of the loop before I even came here? If my theorem is correct, the effects of this time wormhole would begin with single matter. It would have to taken quite a while for whole blocks of wood to just appear._

 _That also leads me to another crazy thought. What if an individual like myself caused this? The more I think about it, the more I feel that maybe I wasn't the first traveler into this timeline. Whoever or whatever it is, it must have come far before me, which would have triggered the beginning of this wormhole._

 _The most troubling issue is the exact end goal of this disconcerting catastrophe. If my idea is correct, the hole would only enlarge over time, successfully capturing more and more time travelers- and perhaps, worst of all, start to absorb time itself. No, not literal time, but objects, things, anything and everything across a spectrum of timelines. Maybe the wood block wasn't the beginning; it could've begun with a few atoms appearing in the air that I didn't notice. But what comes after this? A human? A Goku? A galaxy? Sounds insane, but it sounds like the most plausible idea for now, unfortunately._

 _Questions, questions, questions, but I will have to end this for now, I'm having just the oddest headache…_

"That's a lot to take in," Batman grumbled, a lump forming in his throat.

"Then I have even worse news for you," She replied lamentingly while she stared at the journal entry. "I've had this journal for weeks. I did the best I could with what you guys have, but I'm still stumped. I don't know why this is happening or how to stop it any more than you do."

In a quick motion, Batman vehemently slammed the table, stirring the attention of Manhunter, who focused on spectating the battle. Bulma knows this feeling all too well. She's seen the rage of the helpless in so many people, in her lover, her friend's son, even in Trunks. She motioned for Bruce in an embrace for consolation, but he shrugged her off.

"Something the matter?" Manhunter inquired. He eyed both Bulma's journal and Batman's still cuffed fists.

"No." He replied, and then to himself once more for good measure as he relaxed his body. "Not for now at least. How's the battle going?"

Manhunter gestured for Batman to return to the cameras. Once he arrived, Manhunter pointed towards the screen farthest east. Although the Flash put up a fight, the two androids defeated both him and Booster Gold. One android in particular, the bigger one, looks as if he could be the strongest android yet after he defeated the Flash so easily.

What caught both Manhunter and Batman's attention was what the androids did next. They didn't finish off the Flash or Booster Gold, they just bickered amongst each other, one even went as far as to crush the other's hand in what Batman could only perceive as anger.

"Strange," Batman pondered. Manhunter nodded in agreement.

What was even more surprising, though, was the fact that once the larger android made sure the two heroes were incapable of any further combat, they simply left, as they flown uncannily off the screen and onto its adjacent one.

"Defeating without killing? That's new for these inter-dimensional nuisances." Batman huffed.

"They are not the only ones," Manhunter pointed to another screen near the center.

On that screen, a husky man in a draping ponytail ascended to the sky alongside a guy with greying hair and half his face missing. They too left their opponents alive, albeit in a much worse state. Aquaman's disfigured face was the first thing visible in the crater he lived in, while Wonder Girl lied in one much bigger, with freshly placed soot still covering her from head to toe from the last attack done by the robot with the trucker hat and a heavy southern American accent.

The pair met up with the pair from the far east screen, converging together to endlessly fly across the cameras that enveloped Gotham. Eventually, even the identical twin duo from the western side met up with them, forming a conglomerate that, now united and undefeated, could fly unimpeded and with impunity to whatever they set to accomplish, however nefarious.

"This can't stand! Not in my city!" Batman bellowed as he and the Martian watched in horror as Wonder Girl writhed and struggled to get up from the crater she smashed into earlier. Android 13 threw a red energy sphere at her for daring to pursue them, knocking her unconscious.

"I know."

Martian Manhunter rose from his seat and headed for the exit, his deep blue cape dancing from the movement. Before he made his way out, he made one last turn towards Batman, who respectfully nodded.

"I will buy as much time as I can," He said, as he eyed Batman and Bulma, the later strung on a few chords left after her latest discovery. "If worst comes to worst, we will have to regroup, figure out a new strategy. Either way, we are doing this without the League's strongest fighters, whether that means the end of us or not."

"That's the part that worries me Manhunter. Good luck."

Martian Manhunter exited the room and made his way towards the same teleporter they used to convene on Cell's location in Metropolis long ago.

Batman placed his concentration back to the screens. Oddly enough, the more he saw them fly from place to place, the more he realized something. They don't have the slightest clue on what they're doing. A few minutes of looking and it was clear that they flew across Gotham in a circle, not touching or destroying anything, but just hovering there, conversing amongst themselves at a level too low for him to hear.

Batman's interest was raised even further when he noticed the rather vexed faces of the group, particularly the one with the greying hair and the boy twin from the western side. And while he could not hear, it was obvious they were doing the most talking as they spoke to one another, undoubtedly heatedly if the aforementioned is any indicator. It looked as if the two were about to come to blows, but whatever argument is going on, it's obvious that it's the reason for them not gaining any distance. The Dark Knight took a sigh of relief.

While he continued to study their behaviors, a sudden red, flashing light took hold of the watchtower's interior, alongside the blaring, high-pitched beeps of the alert system.

"What's happening?" Bulma asked, her face frozen in inexplicable terror from the expected answer.

The last time a red level alert rose, it was because Batman illegally fired the energy cannon from the watchtower to attack Cell, which delivered irreparable damage to Metropolis while it did nothing else but almost got himself arrested, saved purely because the threat he was dealt with at that time was that much more important.

Batman pressed and held a button to the side of his scouter. After a few moments, the alert started transmitted voice information within the scouter.

" _Alert, incoming unidentified object approaching Earth at above light speeds."_

Once the words flowed out of the scouter's speakers, he trembled at the mere thought of the sentence and what it meant, in which even that broke down to an intense, unending, all-encompassing feeling of dread. Dread for what is to come next, and that, even for Bulma, who went pale after overhearing the scouter, was understandable, even amidst the palpable sense of the unequivocal aroma of despair.

However, while she had her assumptions, she did not know of even an iota of what- or better yet, who, is coming.

"The Earth is just having a damn field day."

Batman removed his cowl, beheld it one last time to remember the vivid, traumatizing events that had occurred throughout the year, and threw into the unknown in resignation. He turned back to the monitors, where they've all went black, with Earth in the middle as the object approached and came closer by the second. He punched the monitor as hard as he could, creating a crack that stretched several screens in every direction.

Once he calmed down past the point of blind rage, he wiped the sweat and tears from his face before slamming his head on the table.

"If you're wondering Bulma…" He weepily said to no one. "We've got yet another problem. Darkseid has returned."

* * *

Amidst the decayed wreckage around him, John Stewart slowly opened his eyes. For a split second, he thought he had died and gone to hell.

John Stewart, by principle, never touched Earth news when he patrolled the cosmos to stay focused. The task force he was assigned to was the same one that was ambushed by the Yellow Lanterns in their assault against Cell. After the deaths of nearly all task force members, the group was in dire need of troops, to the point where the guardians had randomly pooled individuals to enroll in the job. The new Earth lantern could consider him lucky, as it was the closest he would ever get to meeting Cell at the time.

The creation of the task force was purely a response to the newly dangerous activities of Cell in outer-space, the death of Peraxxus being the trigger to all this. Before then, no one understood how much of a threat Cell was, as he was the only one besides. A being, a creature with no aim roamed the country side. He killed everyone in his wake, and John could not do anything to stop it. The monster went even as far as his hometown, Detroit.

The more he read, the more he became infatuated with this enigmatic enemy. He is nothing like the universe has ever seen, and he came with baggage to his name. John heard of Metropolis and Winchester burning, people disappearing en' masse, a teenage time traveler with strange powers and an even stranger origin that collaborated with the Justice League, and so much more. From the few times he was recorded when he spoke, it was painfully clear he had an ultimate agenda different from supervillains of similar grandeur and power. He was not interested in ruling the universe, rather, he wanted to increase his strength and knowledge through the absorption of others.

As the lantern read further news-lines, he noticed a shift in dialogue. No longer did it start in bombastic, adventurous headlines trying to keep up with the excitement. It became a despondent drawl, no longer mourning the deaths that occur, rather, simply propping the jaw-dropping toll, and moved along from it.

 _Ten thousand... ten fucking thousand! And we are allowing this!_ John would say to himself as he read the news on a transparent data-pad on Oa, the headquarters of the Green Lanterns and the center of the universe.

Things only went downhill from there. Never mind Cyborg's death, but people perished at the thousands at _once_. That does not even include the sacrifices Geo-Force, Adam Strange, or even Captain Adam had to make. It was horrible, and while he dreaded every visit to intergalactic news panel, he had to read every single one, and only hope for the guardians to listen to the cries of the Earthlings or at least allow him to temporarily dispatch there. Every time, every plea, they decline, and things only get worse down there. After a while, he thought his world would be gone before he could rise to the occasion.

And then Hal Jordan died, and on he went to replace him.

John thought these things while he sat against wreckage to ease his broken ribs. The blonde one, Android 18 if his memory wasn't beaten out of him, nearly killed him before her twin brother stopped her midway. Why, he could still touch the recently dried spittle of blood that drooped from his mouth, and feel the throbbing pain that pounded on his head. All he could manage to do is sit and listen to the sound of death and destruction, too weak and too distant to do anything about it. He sighed, as he listened to the cracks in the buildings that surrounded him expand. The buildings themselves sloped against each other in a way that blocked any exit way by foot. He was caged in.

He sighed because he knew that if he did not get up, the Earth will be doomed, he returned for nothing, and he will die when the buildings that surround him fully breakdown.

Every movement was a pitched battle against his lungs, as the strain in his chest worsened with the shortness of breath, and the half-hearted wheezes his broken lungs produced only gave him enough stamina to move- not feel comfortable about it. With this, he started to run in a daze, not knowing which way is danger or the direction he was going other than forward. He ran with all his might, the sound of explosions in the air blurring this way and that, becoming everywhere at the same time. This will go on before he even noticed he ran out of breath to go on, as he abruptly collapsed on the ground, desperately grasping for air. He looked up and noticed that he scarcely moved a few yards away from where he started.

" _John Stewart,"_

He nearly jumped in freight; An ethereal voice suddenly resounded inside his head. Once he realized the source, he scowled.

" _I advise you not to move that quickly again. The next time will render you unconscious at your state."_

There was no question to it, it could only be one of the Guardians in Oa calling in. A male one, and to judge by the fact that he bothered to call an individual lantern at all, it must be Ganthet of all guardians. He was the only one who gave even the slightest damn about Earth affairs, especially with Cell being the forefront of it. Still, Ganthet did not help in Earth's time of need. He decided to meekly stand by and watch John plead for support for his home-world.

"Since when did you care about my wellbeing, or that of any human for that matter?" He admonishingly replied.

" _Irrelevant."_

"How can you even say that!"

" _Listen,"_ The male guardian spoke in a drawl. _"There isn't time. In less than 60 of your seconds, Darkseid will arrive on Earth."_

"W-What?" John shot up a meter or two but forced down when the pain in his chest reminded him of his debilitation.

" _The device he is using to travel was undetectable until he entered the range of your Earth's asteroid detectors. No one saw him coming. Warn your allies."_

Frantically, he pressed on his ear as if his scouter was still in place. From the corner of his eye, he could see the advanced device a distance away, most likely removed in the earlier pummeling he received by 18, where it lied in inoperable pieces.

As he drew away from that, he turned to Hawkman and Hawkgirl, whom both lied unconscious on the ground. He frantically dashed towards them, ignoring the pain and its trauma. He etched for Hawkgirl's scouter, which, although damaged, was in much better condition than his.

"Everyone!" He screamed to the top of his lungs on every channel. "This is beyond any of our damn codes! Darkseid has returned! Darkseid has returned!"

The message was received only a moment too soon, as an unmistakable, yellow glint that erratically sparkled in the nocturnal sky descended on Earth, not far from where the lantern saw the androids last.

* * *

Life began on Earth with the smallest of cells. Those little, microscopic organisms led complex, multifaceted lives within them. Each part within served its purpose in allowing the cell to last as long as it was destined to live, which is, unfortunately, rather short. Dr. Gero understood this, and for decades he edited these building blocks of life to become self-sustaining indefinitely. Such a momentous task would create an immeasurable amount of positive results, including near instant regeneration of muscles and tissues, and immortality for all human life.

It would not be a challenge he faced alone. He enlisted the help of Doctor Briefs and his daughter, Bulma, both popular associates of his due to their all-powerful Capsule Corps company. He was quite affiliated with the family in fact, as her father was his first endorser before Doctor Briefs himself participated in the work. He would often come time and time again to their home and share tea with Mrs. Briefs as well, a sobering experience for his dim heart. She was quite the esteemed cook in his opinion.

In the end, Gero never saw the true purpose of his project come to fruition. Doctor Gero was, from the very beginning of his research of cellular production, deeply seated in his hate for a particular boy with spiky hair. To that end, he also was an engineer for the Red Ribbon Army, a faction that swore themselves as enemies against the supe powered kid and his friends. However, it was for money and not of their insignificant ideals, something that Doctor Briefs Senior understood and did not let change his opinion of his colleague. However, it was not the destruction of the Red Ribbon army by the hands of that boy that concerned him, rather, it was the death of his _son_.

So foolish was he, to risk his life to fight a dishonorable fight just because his father was a part of them. They were terrorists. His son was well above the distorted morals of the chasm of evil men that surrounded him, a light in the unyielding darkness. His love for nature, people, and the protection of it, a noble cause, was what led him to falsely join the Red Ribbon army in the first place. That was what had him killed that fateful day the young boy decided to attack.

After that day, Dr. Gero had only one goal in mind. The Cell project took a vastly different turn from then on. He needed a combatant with capabilities that included his android project, the cell project, and much more. His ultimate warrior, one that could never die, one with an ever-growing bastion of knowledge, one that had the genes of monarchs, royals, warriors, time travelers, the wise, arrogant, and pure, would come many years after the good doctor's demise. Dr. Gero by the hands of his earlier creations for the Red Ribbon army, the twin androids. They would wreak havoc across the Earth for decades, their reign ended by a self-destruct device, created by the same young woman who helped the doctor with his ultimate creation.

The warrior of his dreams, though, would still come to fruition. He finally became a reality in the far future, aided into adolescence by his supercomputer built with the personality of the late Gero himself. The creation's first kill would be Trunks to get his time machine. He was the last hope left in the timeline.

And now, that same fabled being floats in the darkness of space, surrounded by debris and ruins, beating what would have been his last, inconsequential breath as the last cell in his body withered into uselessness; battered, but not defeated.

Before that cell breathed its last, it gave birth to two new ones. They too multiplied, and they multiplied, and they multiplied. They were stronger, multiple times more powerful than they ever were before. They became the building blocks, they started the cycle in what would create, as Dr. Gero meticulously, proudly specified, the greatest being in the universe, all by reversing the process that created life.

In the end, the good doctor will have the last laugh… and so too will Cell.

* * *

 **Scene!**

It seems that while the days of old haunt our heroes, they still move forward, no matter the cost.

In one of the longest chapter of the story thus far, things are only getting worse for the League. Darkseid has arrived, the androids are now entirely unopposed, and Cell is beginning his slow crawl back to life. However, we did get the perspectives of heroes like Trunks, the Flash, John Stewart, and Supergirl. We saw how they have managed to cope with the events of the earlier chapters, and how they strive to do greater. As such, Supergirl had decided to learn how to use the ki inside her to gain an edge on Cell, while the Flash decided to defend Gotham at any cost to redeem his past actions. Trunks had also vowed to tap more into the mysterious powers of Super Saiyan to gain his edge, but that was told in previous chapters.

As another thing to note for you guys, this entire chapter happened in the span of a few minutes. The reason why it was so long was that it was told from several different perspectives.

There is one piece of information I would like to leave you guys with: Darkseid isn't himself.

Oh, and do check out the OG chapters 1-4! I just updated them to be way more enjoyable and consistent with the story moving forward. To further this, I've changed their chapter names to better reflect the 'theme' of the chapter.

 **Q/A:**

 **JOEL:** Cell is _far_ stronger than what he was in his canon Saga. To put an equivalent, the gap between them would be wider than what it would be if Goku were to go SS3 in his fight against SS2 Majin Vegeta. As for Diana and Trunks fighting, it's bound to happen. Trunks will always want to test his mantle against his semi-mentor until he wins.

 **Jplaya2023 & Guest: **Cell isn't dead! Surprise!

 **Guest (Chapter 14):** Darkseid is leagues above Cell for a reason that I will explain soon enough. It must be embarrassing though, to be so swiftly defeated just at the highlight of his life…

 **PikaMew1288 (Chapter 4):** True, he could have absorbed Parasite. However, even Cell is not that desperate to absorb everything in sight.

Thanks everyone! Tune in next time for the beginning of the climax of this arc!


End file.
